Living A Life Foretold
by Bill K
Summary: A chance reunion with an old friend puts the Sailor Senshi onto a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister of Japan and plunge the world into mechanized armageddon.
1. Terrible Reunion

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 1: "Terrible Reunion"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2006 by Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha and Toei Animation and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2006 by Bill K. 

As always, for those only familiar with the English dub:

Usagi: Serena

Ami: Amy

Rei: Raye

Makoto: Lita

Minako: Mina

Haruka: Amara

Michiru: Michelle

Setsuna: Trista

Mamoru: Darien

Chibi-Usa: Rini

Ryo Urawa: Greg

Diet: Japan's legislative body

* * *

The day had been long and hectic, and more work loomed for the night. Japan was in the midst of a recession and the people weren't happy. The boom of the nineties was going bust. Even the electronics and tech companies, two of the businesses that had shoved Japan headlong into the runaway economic growth it had experienced, were finding hard times. Protectionism from markets like the United States and Europe, coupled with competition from Korea and China, were gumming up the smooth Japanese economic machine. Add to that cultural clashes between generations and influences, concerns about foreign defense and the presence of foreign armies in the country, and the general unease of the world markets, and it wasn't a very good time to be a politician in power. 

Yet Shinjiro Hino reveled in it. For there were perks to being a politician whose party was in power that counterbalanced the problems. And his party was in power, as it had been for a decade. As a rising member of the Japanese Diet, and as a protege of the recently retired party chairman Toguro, Hino had power and all the benefits that came with it. So what if there were fifteen hour days sometimes? What else would he be doing with his time that meant as much to him? It wasn't as if he had a family to go home to. Though women sought him out, both for his position and for his good looks, he'd long since given up on the opposite sex as anything more than a fleeting diversion. There was only one woman he'd ever loved - - and she was gone.

Power was his lover now, as it had been his seductive mistress during his short marriage to his departed wife.

Though he was gone from office, former Chairman Toguro wasn't gone from politics. He still lobbied his former fellows on behalf of a few select clients. They were usually industrial moguls looking to use any influence Toguro had left with the Diet, for though Toguro was a deposed old lion, he still knew enough about his former colleagues to be able to know what arms could be twisted and which palms needed greasing. And this evening he had an appointment with Dietman Hino.

Hino made sure to clear a spot on his calendar for Toguro, despite his busy workload. Hino was ranked in the Diet hierarchy, but he wasn't head - - yet. And the current Prime Minister, Yuki Arashi, was an old foe of Toguro and Hino. It wouldn't do for Hino to slight someone like Toguro. Though defanged, he wasn't declawed, and for Hino to outmaneuver Arashi, it paid to still have Toguro on his side.

Toguro arrived promptly at seven. Hino noted that the old man still valued punctuality. He bowed respectfully to Toguro and the old man took it as his due.

"Nice office," Toguro commented as he took a seat in front of Hino's desk. Hino offered him Saki and the old man took it with a gentle nod. "You've certainly done well for yourself, despite the current political climate."

"The wise man knows when to bide his time and observe his enemy," Hino smiled, repeating a saying Toguro was fond of. The old lion chuckled.

"Why does that sound so much more deadly when you say it, Hino?" he said, the smile not vanishing from his lips. "Ah, you always had the charm, Hino. It's too bad that serpent Arashi won. I had hopes that you would succeed me."

"I'm grateful for the faith you placed in me, Toguro-sama," Hino replied, brushing the black pencil-thin mustache on his lip. "I like to believe that it's faith that was - - prescient rather than misplaced."

"With the right friends, it would be," Toguro smiled.

"You know of such friends?" Hino asked, trying to draw out the cagey old politician. "I am always interested in meeting someone who shares my views."

"I do," Toguro said. "They believe there's money to be made and prosperity to be recaptured. They believe that the current downturn in the economy can be reversed, something that would benefit the men representing their interests in the Diet."

"And this would entail?"

"The steering of certain governmental subsidies away from dead end concerns such as consumer electronics and computers," Toguro began enticingly, "and into other industry in which Japan can compete. The bottom has fallen out of the tech market. If Japan doesn't pull back, she'll be sucked down the drain with it. Armaments are the future. There will always be war,particularly with the current climate in America and the Middle East. Cutting edge technology in armaments will always be in vogue and cutting edge is what Japan does best."

Hino listened to the proposal with incredulity that he hid well. How could Toguro think the munitions giants in the U.S. and Europe, let alone the bargain basement munitions still available through the old Soviet Bloc, would let Japan compete when the World War II treaty could still be used as a leash? This was as stupid a concept as he could ever remember Toguro embracing, which meant his silent backers were spreading around a lot of money. While the money was a temptation, it wasn't enough to make him want to take up such a hopeless battle.

"An interesting idea," Hino told him with all the sincerity he could manufacture, "but I'm not sure the political climate is right for such a bold move. I doubt Arashi will be receptive to such an idea. He's very pro-tech and they support him quite generously. And Arashi has a lot of support."

"His support isn't what he thinks it is," scoffed Toguro. "The recession has done as much damage to him as it did to me, simply because he hasn't been able to live up to his promise to reverse it. He's vulnerable on the issues." Toguro took a sip of the Saki. "I will grant you that he does have a strong base in the Diet, but it's not a tested base. Give it the right push and it might swing to another candidate."

He looked directly at Hino.

"Someone from a more sturdy lineage," Toguro hinted.

Hino's eyebrow raised. He still thought Toguro's proposal was rubbish, but if he could ride the old man to a higher spot in the pecking order - - possibly even the Prime Minister seat, it was worth his time.

"Perhaps you're right," Hino ventured. "But Arashi won't go down without a fight on this. I'm not sure we're ready to take him on so soon after . . ."

"Arashi is taken care of," Toguro huffed and Hino noticed just how bitter the old man still was about being toppled by the man. "In the ensuing chaos, a strong hand can bring the factions together under his command. Will you be that strong hand, Hino?"

"Taken care of how?" Hino asked.

"Never mind that," Toguro replied. "Will you be that strong hand?"

Hino thought it over. What Toguro was hinting at sounded at the very least unethical. It wasn't that Hino was a virgin in politics, but one had to be careful. Unless Toguro had some scandal to connect to Arashi that was sure-fire dynamite, he seemed to be throwing caution to the wind in gambling on the negative effect it would have on Arashi's power base. It was that lack of caution that gave Arashi the chance to topple Toguro initially.

Still, the thought of the Prime Minister's chair being in his grasp made it very hard for him to be careful.

* * *

Minako Aino ascended the steps to Hikawa Shrine with a bouncing jaunt to her stride. Her gait matched her mood. Things had been looking up in her life recently and it all started here just six months ago when she told Rei about a script Minako's agent had given her. The priest's response still echoed in her head when she mentioned the script's title, "Island Princess".

"You might want to read that one," Rei had told her, in that earnest, confident manner that gave the priest her otherworldly aura, "soon."

"For real?" Minako had responded, demonstrating an unusual lack of wit.

"Trust me," Rei had said. Even now Minako felt goose bumps when she recalled it.

Half way up the steps, a fifteen-year-old girl buzzed past her on the way down. She caused Minako to turn and stare, not because of her looks. The girl was rather ordinary, with medium length black hair and unremarkable features. Minako stared after her because of the girl's barely restrained rage, a rage so hot she was muttering to herself. A smile of recognition curled Minako's lips.

She found Rei at the top step, angrily attacking the dirt on the walk with a broom. Dust clouds rose from the stone path while Rei's violet eyes smoldered with characteristic violence. Her red mouth was hardened by clenched teeth and her knuckles were white around the handle of the broom. Of course, it wasn't the priest's duty to be sweeping. That usually fell to the miko of the shrine. But that was assuming the shrine still HAD a miko. Rei looked up, her vision telling her of Minako's presence because her temper was blocking her sight. She noticed the knowing smile on the dazzling young blonde.

"What are you smirking about, you hyena?" the priest snapped.

"Ran off ANOTHER miko?" Minako inquired. She knew the answer; she just wanted to get a reaction.

"I am NOT going to let some lazy teenager hang around here because the only reason she wants to be a miko is because she thinks it makes her more attractive to BOYS!" Rei roared.

"There's a better reason?" Minako asked.

"Did you come here for something?" Rei demanded.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact," Minako argued playfully. "I wanted to give you this!"

Her hand stuck out, shoving a metallic gold gift bag into Rei's face. The startled priest took a step back until she realized it was a gift and it was for her - - and it wasn't ticking.

"What's this for?" she asked as she took the bag. Minako could see she was completely flummoxed.

"A thank you gift," Minako explained. "Actually, it's a 'lot of thank yous' gift. The first one is for forgiving me for that whole model thing six months ago."

"You've already thanked me for that," Rei said, her hand diving into the bag. She brought out a long winter scarf of red and violet. "Oh, it's beautiful! Is this silk?"

"Yeah. I figured you could do a few things with it, especially now that it's getting colder. It's to thank you for 'Island Princess', too."

"Did they pick the show up?" Rei asked.

"Too soon. We only just finished filming the pilot. But Toshi saw a print and he liked it. He thinks it's got a good chance. And I hope it sells, because I love this role! I get to sing and act and do comedy and drama! And I owe it all to you."

"I think you had a little hand in it," Rei smiled.

"Yeah, but I might not have even looked at that script if it wasn't for you! Or I might not have given it that little extra something when I auditioned, because I remembered what you said when I went in. And that helped me! I think it put me over the top! So I owe you."

"No you don't," Rei said, putting her hand on Minako's shoulder. "You're my friend. It's no charge. You may get on my nerves sometimes, but you're a friend and helping friends is not an imposition or chore in any way. You'd do the same for me."

"I'd like to think that," Minako began.

"You would," Rei stated.

"Yeah," Minako blushed. "There was kind of another reason for the gift."

Rei stared for a second. "You want to know if the pilot will sell?"

"Damn, you're good!" Minako gasped.

"You want me to read your future again?"

"If you could?" Minako ventured timidly. "Because I figure you're my good luck charm now."

Rei dropped her head to hide the smile on her face. She was incredulous, but then again this was Minako.

"I'll help you clean," Minako ventured. That brought a snort of laughter from Rei.

"You? You and 'clean' are mutually exclusive terms."

Minako flashed puppy-dog eyes.

"Go inside," Rei said, half-laughing. "I'll get prepared."

"Yes!" Minako exclaimed and half-danced into the shrine.

* * *

As part of her internship, Dr. Ami Mizuno was rotated between several departments in the hospital she worked at until she decided on a specialty. Today was the middle of her month-long stint in the hospital's emergency room.

The sheer variety of patients she saw in emergency room work made the job interesting. Though only a doctor for six months, she could safely say that she'd seen more things in the past two weeks than in her previous five months. Everything from children with flu to stabbing victims rolled through. It was a lot to master in a short time, but Ami actually embraced the experience. To the surprised pleasure of Dr. Aya Nakahara, her supervisor, Ami handled everything with the skill and cool head of a seasoned practitioner. The young intern had a brilliant mind, that he knew going in. She also demonstrated a coolness under fire that one didn't see in young doctors that much - - as if she were used to making decisions amid stressful conditions. He'd even ventured the first feelers to her about making emergency room care her specialty.

For her part, Ami was reluctant. While she couldn't argue with her supervisor's assertion that she was a great aid to people who clearly needed aid urgently, the work seemed too impersonal to her. Her job was to get a patient stable enough to transport to a room and a bed,  
where an attending physician would take over. Ami did her job, as required, but couldn't help wondering after every person she ferried through the ER to another doctor. While the training she got here was invaluable, the young intern was arriving over the course of days at the conclusion that she would prefer to do more for fewer patients.

This day found her working beside Dr. Nakahara, as they tried to stabilize a sixty-six year old woman suffering from a fall down a flight of steps. Dr. Nakahara did the primary work in treating the victim's shock and the break in her hip while Ami monitored her blood pressure and respiration for signs of sudden drops. This would indicate cardio-pulmonary distress and would take precedence over the hip. Just then, the duty nurse at the receiving station leaned urgently into the door of the exam room.

"Dr. Nakahara!" she called out. "We just got a call from a medic unit! They're transporting a gunshot victim here!"

"Is Aramatsu busy?" Nakahara asked. He looked away from his patient and Ami immediately moved in to continue her treatment.

"He's still with the driver from that auto accident," the nurse responded. "And Yomohara is with the poisoned child."

"Go ahead, Dr. Nakahara," Ami gently suggested. "I think I can handle this case."

Nakahara looked at Ami, startled. She felt herself blush over her boldness. Then he grew a pleased smile.

"I'm sure you can, Mizuno," Nakahara said. "But this is my patient. Why don't you take the gunshot victim."

"Me?" Ami asked, startled by the suggestion. Gunshot victims were, by nature, more involved than victims of falls. It was a tremendous vote of confidence in her skills.

"First time for everything, Dr. Mizuno," Nakahara said. Then he turned to the duty nurse. "Pull Nurse Togosa off of the auto accident, so Dr. Mizuno has a safety net to work with. Get someone else in with Aramatsu and here with me."

Nurse Togosa was the most experienced nurse in the ER. Ami felt a little better having such a veteran to work with. She doffed her gloves and hurried off with the duty nurse.

"Don't worry, Dr. Mizuno. You'll be fine," the duty nurse told her.

"Thank you," Ami smiled, then let her doctor side take over. "Do we know any particulars about how the shooting occurred?"

"Well, it's all over the emergency bands," the duty nurse related. "He was shot by government security forces. He actually tried to kill Prime Minister Arashi!"

"Really?" Ami gasped and her mind began turning over possibilities as to what type of person he might be. "Have you notified security?"

"I'll do that, Doctor," she replied, "even though the security agents are coming in with him - - according to Tatsuo."

Tatsuo, a medic unit driver, and Reiko, the duty nurse, were dating. Ami allowed herself a moment's smirk, then got back to business. The medic unit pulled up and instantly two medics were hauling a Gurney through the doors of the ER. On the Gurney was a gaunt man no taller than she was. His black hair was tousled and unkempt, his skin leathery and stretched over bone and little sinew. The lower half of his face was obscured by the oxygen mask strapped on. One of the medics pushed the Gurney while the other kept pressure on a chest wound. Ami and Nurse Togosa, a sturdy woman of forty-nine with short black hair, swooped in.

"How many wounds?" Ami demanded. Her eyes counted three: Upper right chest, right forearm and lower right thoracic cavity.

"Four!" the medic related. "There's one in the lower left abdomen. We've got pressure pants on him!" Pressure pants were plastic pants that went over the legs and hips and were inflated to put constant pressure on leg and abdominal wounds.

"Type and cross-match!" Togosa called out to an orderly. "This one's going to need a lot of blood!"

The patient was wheeled into an open exam room. An orderly stood by with a cardiac crash cart, in case the patient went into arrest. Outside, two officers of Japan's security force stood watch. As Nurse Togosa inserted the intravenous shunt into the patient's left arm, Ami reached for a needle in order to begin closing the chest wound.

"Patient's beginning to wake up," Togosa told Ami. The nurse reached for a sedative.

Reflexively Ami looked into the eyes of the waking patient. Instantly a chill of recognition swept down her spine.

"M-Mizuno?" the haggard, gaunt man rasped, his emaciated body and worn, haunted face seeming to be fifty and not twenty-seven.

"U-Urawa-kun?" Ami gasped. It couldn't be. But she knew those eyes. They were the same eyes that stared at her with love in a fourteen-year-old's fantasy.

"Dr. Mizuno?" Togosa inquired. "Are you all right?"

Ami stared for a second more, then shook herself. She looked up at Togosa as if just hearing her at that second.

"Yes," she choked out and snapped back into doctor mode. "Yes, forgive me. Please sedate the patient, Nurse."

And while one part of Ami Mizuno's compartmentalized mind employed her skill and her education toward saving Ryo Urawa's life, another part reeled out of control, wondering how the delicate, sensitive genius she once could have loved could have ended up like this? And what could have motivated him to attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister?

continued in Chapter 2


	2. Oath

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 2: "Oath"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

After her shift ended, Ami changed into her civilian clothes and headed up to the third floor Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. Through the entire trip, as she had through the remainder of her shift, Ami wondered about Ryo, her former crush from high school. How was he doing? Why was he as drawn and unhealthy as she could tell he was while she was trying to alleviate the bullet wounds in his body? What had happened to him since they were both shy, starry-eyed teens terrified by the feelings of sexual and emotional attraction they each felt for the other?

And what could possibly motivate him to try to assassinate Japan's Prime Minister?

Her key card let her into the ICU. As she approached the nurse's station, Ami saw in the face of the duty nurse that she wasn't recognized. It wasn't surprising. It was a big hospital. She'd only been working there six months and her internship hadn't rotated her to Intensive Care just yet.

"Hello," she said, almost timidly. "I'm Dr. Mizuno, from the ER." The nurse's puzzled expression faded. "Earlier today, you had a patient come up from the ER. His name is Ryo Urawa. I was wondering how he was doing."

"I'll look him up," the nurse said, consulting her charts. "The name doesn't sound familiar, but then it takes me a day or two to learn their names. Are you new? I don't remember seeing you around, Doctor."

"I'm interning," Ami replied. "I've only been here six months."

"Mizuno," she repeated. "There's a Mizuno that practices in pediatrics. Oh wait, are you that intern I heard Dr. Nakahara talking about? You must be something special. I've never heard Dr. Nakahara talk that way about anybody. And you've only been an intern for six months?"

"I'm certain Doctor Nakahara was being kind," Ami flushed.

"Here it is," she said and briefly scanned the chart. Her face grew grim. "Oh. He's THAT ONE."

"What? What is it?" Ami asked anxiously.

"Right now he's stable," the nurse related, "but his condition is listed as very serious. Of course, given how many wounds he had, I guess that's not surprising, huh? He had his medication about forty-five minutes ago, so he's probably asleep."

"May I see him?" Ami asked.

The nurse let out a heavy sigh. "You'll have to arrange that with Dr. Yamamura. He's the attending physician. And with them, too, I'm afraid."

She pointed Ami to a cubicle in the ICU. Two uniformed officers of the Japan Security Force were guarding the door. Through the glass outer wall of the cubicle, Ami could see Ryo laying in bed, a ventilator in his mouth and IV's hooked above him like clusters of fruit. The vital signs monitor display above him showed a steady heartbeat, but Ami didn't like the look of his blood pressure.

"Are they afraid he's going to run away?" Ami muttered incredulously. "He has four bullet wounds in him. At this stage he couldn't even lift his head if he wanted to."

"Um, Dr. Mizuno," the nurse began cautiously, "you seem awfully emotionally involved with this case. Do you know this guy?"

Ami's gaze dropped. "We went to high school for a time," she confessed. "Ryo - - um, Urawa-kun and I were - - friends."

"Oh," the nurse replied and Ami knew the woman had guessed what Ami had left unsaid. "So what kind of guy is he?" Ami knew she meant to ask why he would try to assassinate someone, but was being diplomatic.

"I'm not certain I know anymore. We lost touch years ago." Suddenly she turned to the nurse. Grabbing a pad of paper, Ami wrote down a phone number. "If there's any change in his condition, could someone notify me, please?"

"Certainly, Dr. Mizuno," the nurse smiled. "I hope it works out."

Wandering out in the hall, Ami went as far as her legs had the strength to carry her, then absently leaned back against a wall. It all seemed like a bad dream. But there was a very real prospect of Ryo dying. She knew it for a fact. She'd seen the wounds and, though she'd done her best to repair the damage, four bullet wounds weren't something a healthy person just got up and walked away from. And Ryo was far from healthy, from the looks of him.

And even if he did recover, what did he have to look forward to other than a humiliating trial and a life in prison? Suddenly Ami felt an ocean of tears welling up in her head, drowning her logic and threatening to pour down her face.

"Ami?" she heard the man's voice say and quickly moved to dab at her eyes.

"Mamoru," Ami choked out, struggling to stay calm. "Are you just getting off shift?"

"Still got a few hours," he said. "I'm just down here checking on a patient. What's wrong?"

For a moment Ami hesitated, embarrassed at her emotionalism. Then she remembered it was Mamoru and that being embarrassed by emotion was silly. Then the whole story tumbled out.

"That terrible," Mamoru said softly. "I remember Urawa. I was always impressed by the strength of his character, how he was able to resist Beryl - - certainly longer than I did. I think his delaying tactics helped throw Beryl's plans off enough to give Usako the chance to fight back and win."

"You can remember the time you were under Queen Beryl's control?"

"Every moment of it," Mamoru responded. Ami could see it wasn't a pleasant memory. "Have you been in to see him yet?"

"They won't let me in," Ami moaned. "The Security Force has him guarded. Only Dr. Yamamura and the ICU staff apparently can get in."

"Yamamura?" Mamoru asked. "I interned with him. I think I can get him to give you visitation privileges."

"You can?" Ami asked, hope dawning in her eyes for the first time in a while.

"Let me give him a call," Mamoru told her. Ami lunged and hugged him. It was surprising, but not unpleasant. Still, Mamoru eased her away gently. "Meanwhile, why don't you go home and get some sleep. In this doctor's opinion, you look like you need it."

Ami nodded, sniffed back some tears, and wandered off toward the employee parking garage. When she was gone, Mamoru headed for a phone to call Dr. Yamamura.

* * *

"COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE . . .!"

Akiko did her best to crawl as fast as she could, but she wasn't fast enough to outrace her mother yet. Makoto swooped in and pulled the ten month old girl off the floor before she could make it to the electrical socket that the refrigerator was plugged into. Akiko squirmed and fought, trying to escape the grip that was preventing her from exploring her world, but the superior strength of her mother won out yet again.

"Do I have to put a leash on you?" Makoto demanded in frustration, pulling Akiko right up into her face. Equally frustrated, Akiko's pudgy hands pressed to Makoto's cheek, trying to push away from her mother and continue her explorations. The toddler scowled petulantly.

Just then, Makoto heard the door to their apartment open. Akiko was cradled against her breast.

"Ooh, I can't wait until you're old enough to spank," Makoto grumbled as Akiko persistently, stubbornly tried to shove away. She walked into the living room and found Sanjuro, her longshoreman husband, easing himself into his favorite chair after turning on the evening news report. "Hi,San-San. Rough day?"

"No rougher than usual," he exhaled. His beefy frame sagged into the chair, but he managed a smile for his two favorite women. "How was yours? I heard you and Akiko going at it again."

"Da-da! Da-da!" Akiko squealed. She began squirming and writhing in Makoto's grip, reaching out to her father. Makoto brought the toddler over and handed her off to her husband.

"You ever try to herd cattle and juggle grenades at the same time?" Makoto asked, grinning wryly. "It'd probably be easier than trying to cook dinner AND keep an eye on her."

"Are you giving your mom fits again?" Sanjuro asked his daughter. The girl snuggled up against his chest and cooed with self-satisfaction. "You're just a bad little girl, aren't you?" It almost seemed like the toddler chuckled.

"She does it on purpose, you know," Makoto smirked.

"You could always put her in her playpen," Sanjuro offered.

"I've tried that," the woman sighed. "If I do that when she wants to go roaming, she cries. And she WON'T STOP until I let her out! Sometimes I can outlast her . . .!"

"Maybe we should put her in solitary confinement," San-San cracked, jiggling Akiko with his arm.

"Maybe you should stop with the jokes," Makoto countered. Then she sniffed the air. "Oh, my squid!"

"We're having squid tonight?" Sanjuro asked as Makoto hurried back into the kitchen. "With peas, I hope." Akiko gurgled. "And some strained peas for you, sweetie."

Then a news item caught Sanjuro's ear. His attention shifted from his daughter to the television.

"Babe!" he called out. "Come look at this!" Makoto entered the room, curious. "You hear anything about this?"

The couple listened to a news report about the attempt that morning on the life of Prime Minister Arashi. It was accompanied by jostling footage captured by news crews of two security officers wrestling with a gaunt, dark-haired man.

"Oh my," Makoto gasped softly.

"Takes all kinds, doesn't it?" Sanjuro added. "The guy had to be delusional or something just to make an attempt in a public place with security everywhere."

The footage continued, finally zooming in on the captured assailant's face after he broke away from the guards and was shot down. Makoto stared at the face with a strange sense of deja vu.

"The assailant was identified as Ryo Urawa . . ." the newscaster read. Makoto felt the blood drain from her face.

"Urawa?!!" she gasped.

"You know him?" Sanjuro asked. However Makoto was already across the room and on the phone. "Babe?"

"San-San, turn out the oven so the squid doesn't burn!" she said urgently. "I've got to call Ami!" As Sanjuro stared and she waited for the call to complete, Makoto sagged back against the wall. "Urawa? I can't believe it!"

* * *

Ami hung the phone up and went back to bed. Of course, Makoto had no way of knowing that she had been sleeping and that she didn't have to get up for another four hours yet. The doctor hoped she hadn't sounded cross on the phone.

Thirty minutes later, with no sleep in sight, Ami pulled herself out of bed and sat on the edge. She thought a moment, then donned her fuzzy slippers and crossed to a book shelf at the far end of her bedroom. Ami's hand passed along the volumes housed in the book shelf until she found what she searched for - - a yearbook from eighth grade.

Leafing through page after page of pictures from junior high school brought back so many memories for her. Most of the student pictures were recognizable only as familiar faces from class, but there were some that meant more to her. One page had Makoto's picture on it. She was smiling for the camera with wistful tolerance and Ami knew exactly what was going through her mind: That she didn't think she was as strikingly beautiful as everybody else did. Her own picture was on the next page and Ami grimaced at the trembling, mousy innocent that stared back at her. She recalled she had run calculus formulas in her mind while the picture was being taken to keep from blushing. The next page had Usagi's picture among the other students, naturally beaming a smile so bright and so warm that it threatened to over-expose the film taking the picture. Ami smiled at the memory.

Urawa was on the next page. He'd made the yearbook, even though he hadn't finished the term with Crossroads. Ami touched the picture, irrationally hoping that she'd feel Urawa's firm jaw rather than slick paper.

"What happened, Urawa-kun?" Ami whispered as she gazed into the picture's sensitive eyes, eyes that always seemed to know what was coming. Even though there was a sadness to those eyes even then, there was life and hope in them. "How did you go from this to that emaciated wreck that I operated on? What was it that sent your life spinning out of control?"

A drop of water splashed onto the page. Startled, Ami recovered quickly and wiped it away, then dabbed at her eyes with her fingers. Realizing the effect it was having on her, Ami closed the yearbook and shelved it. Her nightgown dragged along the floor as she crossed back to bed, doffed her slippers and climbed back in. She wanted desperately to change into Sailor Mercury, call in the senshi and get to the bottom of this. However, the scientist in her knew that she had to wait for more data to know how to act efficiently. She'd just have to wait.

And hope that Urawa didn't die before he could talk to her.

* * *

Ashitaki Nishimoto held a doctorate in engineering and in physics. Forty-six, he had worked at various times in his life for Mitsubishi auto makers, Kendo Heavy Industries, Tokyo University and the Japanese government itself. He was a certified genius at the design of hydraulic systems, robotics and their industrial application, advanced computer systems and in fabrication of reinforced but lightweight synthetic metals. He had sent the scientific community buzzing with his latest theories on applications of cybernetics. No one questioned his brilliance.

But Ashitaki Nishimoto never seemed to stay anywhere longer than a few years. He was considered coarse and blunt by some, single-minded by others, and generally difficult to work with by all. He didn't work well with others and didn't take criticism well. He found the business climate duplicitous, the educational community stifling and conservative, and public service painfully slow and a dead-end. As an innovator, he was consistent and productive. What he often lacked was money and facilities to make his theories a reality. This always necessitated linking up to those people in business, education or government, all of whom he detested, to help make his ideas come to life. And usually by the time his idea came to fruition, he'd managed to wear out his welcome and had to depart - - without his innovation.

Nishimoto paused as he caught his reflection in a nearby window. He saw a man with limp, unstylish black hair, thick black horn-rim glasses and as boring a costume of white shirt, black slacks and tie as could be. He saw a man gaunt and gawking, disdainful of his fellow man and painfully uncomfortable around women, who he feared saw him as unattractive. How many times had he gone down this path, alone and with no one to understand him or fight for him? Nishimoto sighed. Maybe this time it would be different.

"Nishimoto-San," Hikaru Ishii smiled genially as he entered the engineer's design studio. Nishimoto made a half-hearted attempt to smile back. "I have good news."

Hikaru Ishii was chief operating officer of Kujawa Heavy Industries, Kendo's main competitor. He was in his late fifties and had graying black hair and the waistline of a man with too much money and too much interest in the finer things of life. He could be smooth,  
diplomatic and ingratiating with an ease Nishimoto never could muster. But Nishimoto was smart enough to recognize the glint in the eye behind the benign mask, the one that seemed to be calculating how he could separate a man from his wallet.

He had listened to Nishimoto's pitch, how using his theories in cybernetics could make an actual mobile battle suit a reality rather than a fantasy of anime. Ishii had recognized how such a product could revolutionize the armaments market and create entirely new and lucrative revenue streams for Kujawa Industries. He had set Nishimoto up in the company Research and Development Department designing, constructing prototypes, experimenting with his synthetic metals theories, programming cybernetic nets - - with the proviso that they would proceed only if they could get the government to throw in with them. Nishimoto threw in with Ishii, knowing full well that the man would try to cut him out of the deal somehow. The engineer held no illusions - - Ishii was just a means to an end.

"The government is going to help finance the project?" Nishimoto asked, trying to read Ishii's body language rather than the mask that was his public face.

"Not yet," Ishii admitted. "But I've got Toguro-San working on that and he's confident that he can get the appropriation."

"If you say so," Nishimoto scowled and went back to his blueprints.

"Don't scoff," Ishii cautioned. "Toguro may be deposed, but he's still got pull in the Diet."

"Not as much as he used to," Nishimoto countered. "Arashi calls the shots now."

"Speaking of Arashi, did you hear what happened this morning?"

Nishimoto looked at him blankly.

"Someone tried to assassinate our Prime Minister."

"Really?" Nishimoto inquired curiously.

"Yes. Tragic business, really. I'm certainly glad he's all right," Ishii said as Nishimoto studied him, "even though it might have helped our cause if he were incapacitated." Ishii put a mint into his mouth, taken from a tin he carried obsessively. "Still, maybe this incident will convince him that less money needs to be devoted to propping up the tech companies and more needs to go to defense manufacturing. They say a conservative is just a liberal who's been robbed."

"Yes," Nishimoto replied, trying to mask his disdain for this man.

"Should we get favorable treatment from the government on this inquiry, are you ready to proceed?" Ishii asked.

"Yes," Nishimoto sniffed. "All the schematics are drawn. The test models worked to within specifications. The synthetics are blending nicely. I can start construction of the prototype mobile suit at any time."

"Excellent," Ishii smiled. "Even if the plan does get shot down, we can use your synthetic metals process in our farm equipment lines. This looks like as close to a win-win scenario as I could have ever envisioned. The Diet will probably take a few months to debate this, but I'm confident. Be ready to move, Nishimoto-San." And Ishii turned and ambled out of the studio.

"Oh, I will," Nishimoto said to himself. He smiled as he went back to the blueprint on his drawing table. The smile didn't improve his look.

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. Mercy

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 3: "Mercy"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Mamoru unlocked the door to the cramped - - "intimate," the voice of his wife corrected in his head - - little apartment he shared with the one true love of his life. Though his day had started out quietly enough, things avalanched after he'd left Ami and he was done in. There hadn't even been time to eat dinner between the Shinguji kidney failure and the Hatohara reaction to his medication. And he hadn't managed to call Dr. Yamamura like he'd promised Ami.

"After dinner," he swore an oath to himself, fumbling with the door knob. "I hope Usako fixed something." Mamoru crossed the threshold into the apartment.

"MAMO-CHAN, YOU'RE HOME!" Usagi squealed, coming up fast on his left. Mamoru had just enough time to brace before Usagi flung herself at him. Her arms wrapped around his neck as her body impacted with his - - and Mamoru felt his knees buckle. As his wife shrieked in terror, Mamoru fell backwards onto the floor, Usagi sprawled on top of him. "Mamo-chan, are you all right?" she cried.

"Am I that tired," Mamoru wheezed, short of breath, "or are you getting heavier?"

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Usagi demanded, her mouth screwing up into a thin little line.

"Not even if you held a gun to my head," the doctor grinned weakly. Usagi's mouth softened into a warm smile.

"Oh, Mamo-chan, you do love me," she sighed and the pair kissed still sprawled on the floor.

"Disgusting," sneered Luna from her perch in the window.

Without breaking her embrace, Usagi made a rude gesture at the cat.

"Honestly, rutting on the floor like a pair of animals in heat," Luna persisted. "Do either of you know the meaning of the word 'decorum'?"

"I think the apartment's decorum looks just fine!" snapped Usagi. Luna only rolled her eyes and went back to sleep.

Mamoru sniffed the air. "You didn't make dinner?" he asked, a trace of his massive disappointment seeping into his voice.

"Oh, Mamo-chan, I'm sorry!" whined Usagi as the pair worked their way off the floor. "But there was this show on television and I got interested in it and - - well, I forgot."

"Are they rerunning 'Cutey Honey Flash' again?" Mamoru asked, half-jokingly.

"Well," Usagi pouted, "I like that show. Though not as much as the show it replaced."

Mamoru sighed patiently. "Well, we've still got some leftovers from yesterday, don't we?" Usagi suddenly grew a very guilty expression.

"She had them for lunch," Luna reported.

"SO DID YOU!" Usagi bellowed. "But I notice you didn't get around to mentioning THAT!"

"I'm assuming you didn't get to the store, either?" Mamoru asked. Usagi shook her head timidly. "Do we have anything?"

"Some instant noodles," Usagi squeaked.

"Sold," the young doctor sighed. "But on one condition."

"What?"

He snaked his arms around Usagi's waist. "That you sit on my lap and feed them to me."

Usagi smirked conspiratorially. "I think I'd enjoy that."

Giving Usagi's bottom a playful swat, Mamoru turned and began dialing the phone. As Usagi heated water for the noodles, she could hear most of Mamoru's end of the conversation. Bringing the foam cup into the living room, she found her husband deflating into one side of the sofa.

"Who did you call?" she asked, snuggling her bottom into his lap and cuddling up next to him.

"A colleague of mine, Dr. Yamamura," Mamoru replied, then took a bite of noodles offered by Usagi.

"Is she pretty?" Usagi asked, eyes narrow and lips puckered in a pout.

"He," Mamoru corrected. "I asked him to give Ami clearance to visit a patient of his." Mamoru took another bite.

"Is she consulting already?" Usagi marveled. "I know Ami's a genius, but come on!"

"Remember Ryo Urawa?" Mamoru asked. Usagi nodded, then grew a look of distress. "He came in this morning with four bullet wounds."

"Oh my goodness, what happened?"

Mamoru scowled. "Well, word around the hospital is that Urawa - - tried to assassinate the Prime Minister this morning."

"No!" gasped Usagi urgently. "Mamo-chan, that's not possible! Not Urawa!"

"Security forces are the ones who shot him, Usako," Mamoru related. "I was talking with Yamamura. Urawa's not the same boy we remember. Just from his physical condition alone, it's obvious that he's been through some very rough times. Stress, frustration, hopelessness - -they can change people."

"No, Mamo-chan, it's not possible," Usagi insisted.

"Well, then maybe Ami can get him to open up - - shed a little light on what happened," Mamoru mused, "if he regains consciousness."

"You mean he might . . .?" Usagi asked, not brave enough to mouth the word.

"From what Yamamura and Ami both described to me, it's a distinct possibility."

Clutching the cup to her chest, Usagi leaned in against her husband for comfort. This was not good news.

* * *

On her break from the ER, Ami hurried up to the Intensive Care Unit. She wanted to check in on how Urawa was doing. No one had called her with either good news or bad. In fact,the only people who called her were her friends. Makoto was the first, followed quickly by Rei and Minako. Even her mother had called and Ami had no idea her mother had even known about her feelings for Ryo. Such things had made for a period of sleep in fits and spots. The most welcome call had been from Mamoru, telling her Dr. Yamamura had cleared her to visit.

She was curious as to why Usagi hadn't called. But that curiosity evaporated when she heard a commotion up ahead in the ward.

"But I just want to visit him!" Usagi squealed, trying to pull away from one of the guards at Urawa's room. "I'm a friend of his! I've known him forever!"

"Nobody is admitted! That means you!" the guard maintained. Ami saw his partner was ready to assist if necessary.

"What's going on here?" Ami raced up. "Usagi, why are you here?"

"Ami? Oh, Ami, it's terrible! Urawa-kun looks so pale and weak! And-and they won't let me in! I can help him!"

"Usagi!" Ami hissed and pulled her off out of earshot of the guards and the nurse's station. "You didn't intend to use the Moon Tier, did you?" she asked in a low voice.

Usagi's blank stare was all the confirmation Ami needed.

"Usagi, you know how much trying to heal someone takes out of you! It's too big of a risk! Urawa-kun is gravely ill!"

"But Ami," Usagi argued, her eyes beginning to tear up, "he could die. It's Urawa-kun!"

The tone of Usagi's plea gave Ami a pang for several reasons. She grimaced.

"Usagi, we're doing everything medically possible for him," Ami told her friend. Then she offered a confident smile. "Don't give up on medical science yet. We're not beaten by a longshot."

Usagi bowed her head. "I don't mean to insult you, Ami. It's just - - I can help him. I know I can. Maybe I can't make him well - - but I can give him some more strength to fight with."

"It's too dangerous," Ami persisted. When Usagi started to argue, Ami cut her off. "I won't here another word, Usagi. I'm the doctor here. I know best." And Usagi surrendered - - reluctantly. Ami turned and walked back to the guards.

"Ma'am, you can't go in either," the guard told her. "This is a restricted area."

"I'm Dr. Mizuno," Ami identified herself. "Dr. Yamamura cleared me to see the patient."

"That may be," the guard replied tersely, "but you haven't been cleared with us."

"I am a doctor affiliated with this hospital . . ."

"And he's a government prisoner, which makes this cubicle under the jurisdiction of the National Security Forces," the guard countered. "Nobody goes in without permission."

"Is there a problem here?" Ami heard the voice, turned and found Dr. Yamamura behind her. He was about Mamoru's age with slicked back black hair and a fairly handsome face with a cocky confidence to it. Ami instantly recognized the posture. Some doctors adopted the cocky attitude in order to instill patient confidence in them and in their control over the medical situation. It was something Ami rejected in favor of caring honesty. "Because this is an ICU, and that means there are very sick people here who DO NOT need to be disturbed."

"We're sorry, Doctor," the guard nodded. "We're just doing our assigned jobs."

"They won't let me in," Ami told him.

"Gentlemen, I asked Dr. Mizuno to consult on this case," Yamamura said with a bravado Ami could only envy. "Please let her pass."

"Very well," scowled the guard. "But she's going to have to wait until a female officer can be summoned."

"Why?" gasped Ami.

"You need to be searched," was the reply. And Ami suddenly saw red.

"Why do I need to be searched?" she snapped. "Do you think I'm going to pass a weapon to him? That man in there can't even get out of bed on his own! He wouldn't be a threat to anyone if I passed a thermo-nuclear device to him! Use your eyes!"

"Ami, calm down," Usagi gasped, holding onto her friend.

"Gentlemen," Yamamura interjected, positioning himself between them and Ami, "your force is here at OUR indulgence. But if you abuse that indulgence, I WILL have you escorted off the premises. Now I have a sick man in there. If Dr. Mizuno can help his recovery, then she is going in there."

The guard scowled in frustration. He examined his options and didn't like the conclusion he got.

"Very well. Dr. Mizuno can go in," he said. Then he pointed sharply at Usagi. "But SHE stays out!"

"OHHHHHHHH!" fumed Usagi. She turned on her heel and stormed out. Ami and Dr. Yamamura walked past the guards and into Urawa's room. Ryo lay there, still unconscious and still hooked to the ventilator.

"So you're the intern Dr. Nakahara raves to everyone about," Yamamura smiled. "You should be flattered. He doesn't impress easily, especially from interns. There are some residents that Nakahara looks down on."

"He's being kind," Ami replied modestly, her eyes inexorably drawn to Urawa's vital sign display. "Thank you for helping with the guards."

"Just helping out a friend of Chiba's. Besides, 'doctor' is a fraternity. We're supposed to stick together." He paused awkwardly. "So, how long have you known this guy?"

"Since I was fourteen," Ami admitted, "though we lost touch years ago."

"Hmm," Yamamura nodded. "So, um, so what makes a guy do that?"

"I don't know," Ami grimaced. "It isn't the Urawa-kun I knew. He was hardly prone to violence." Then Ami paused as her great brain made a realization. "Unless he felt he had no choice."

"Look!" they both heard someone say outside the room. "It's Sailor Moon!"

Ami whirled and saw Sailor Moon approaching the two guards. Her first impulse was to run to Usagi and try to stop her, but her need to protect her own identity kept her from acting. The guards advanced a step to cut the senshi off.

"You can't come in here," the guard told her. "This is a restricted area."

"But I can help him," Sailor Moon told them. And Ami could see the will of the two men begin to waver.

"No, ma'am," the guard said finally. "Our orders are clear."

Sailor Moon sighed in frustration. Holding up her hand, she summoned the Moon Tier to her.

"Then I'll just have to do it from here," she replied. "Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss."

Radiant silver energy flowed from the Tier through the door and washed over Ryo. Neither the guards nor Dr. Yamamura moved, for they didn't quite know what to do in this situation. Ami knew. She prayed to any god that would listen that Sailor Moon wouldn't severely injure herself trying to boost Ryo's flagging life energy. Timidly she risked a glance at the vital signs monitor. Ryo's heartbeat and blood pressure were strengthening. The ashen color of his skin was taking on a more healthy, though far from perfect, hue.

And then Sailor Moon collapsed. Instantly the guards were around her, trying to prop her up as Ami and Dr. Yamamura rushed to her side.

"Are you hurt?" one of the guards asked her.

"No," Sailor Moon wheezed. "Just a little dizzy. Did I help?"

Ami and Yamamura both glanced back at the vital signs monitor.

"I don't believe it," Yamamura said. He went back in and began checking Ryo more thoroughly.

"Yes, Sailor Moon," Ami said cautiously. "It looks like you helped him. But at what cost to you?"

"That doesn't matter," Sailor Moon smiled. "All that matters is that I helped him."

* * *

For the eleventh time that day, Dietman Hino dialed the number on his cell phone. It was still on his memory log, so all he had to do was hit the proper code. All the previous calls had gone unanswered, causing Hino's fury to mount. He didn't like being ignored or avoided. It was a sign of disrespect and he'd done, said and swallowed too much over the years to be treated in this manner by anyone, even . . .

"Toguro here," the phone finally acknowledged.

"This is Hino," Hino said curtly. "We need to talk."

"Hino-San," Toguro said and Hino could mentally picture the smile on the old buzzard's face, "you seem upset."

"When we talked night before yesterday, you said Arashi was 'taken care of'. That choice of words has taken on an entirely different meaning in light of certain events."

"Yes, it is a remarkable coincidence," Toguro replied blandly.

"Who arranged it?"

"Who said it was arranged, Hino? It was the work of a deranged loner. Haven't you heard the news reports? That's what the Government Security Forces are theorizing."

"Toguro-San," Hino said stiffly, "if I'm going to help you and your client in the Diet, I need to know what's going on. I can't give my best efforts if I'm busy wondering whether I'm going to be blind-sided at any moment."

"That's your pride talking, Hino-San," Toguro countered. "Believe me, it's better that you know as little about this beyond what I've told you as possible."

"I will not be party to insurrection against the government!" Hino snapped.

"Who said anything about insurrection?" Toguro fumed. "Why in the name of the gods would we try to destroy the very governmental structure that promises the highest profit? Get a grip!" Toguro cleared his throat to calm himself down. "This is actually a favorable turn of events for you, my boy. With Arashi and his faction distracted and reeling from this - - unfortunate business - - it can give a smart politician the chance to build a coalition against him with at best haphazard opposition. Given sufficient political support, a glib orator such as yourself could ram through just about anything he wanted to before Arashi's forces had a chance to regroup."

Wordlessly, Hino rolled his eyes. Toguro was a manipulator and would never change.

"But that all depends on whether you have the courage and ambition to seize this opportunity, Hino-San," Toguro told him. "Do you?"

Hino considered his next words.

"I would appreciate a little warning if something like this is going to happen again," Hino replied, his displeasure unconcealed in his voice.

"If it's necessary, I'll try to accommodate you," Toguro told him. "But if you strike before Arashi has had time to change his underwear, something 'like this' won't be necessary."

"I'll contact you if some of my fellow Diet need some 'extra incentive' in exchange for their support," Hino said, then disconnected the call.

There was no doubt about it. Toguro and his clients were trying to use him as a blunt object in their plans while keeping him handy as a scapegoat should things blow up. That was a very vulnerable position to be in. Smart politicians didn't stay in that situation if they could help it and Hino prided himself on being a smart politician. Leaning over his desk, Hino pulled over his rolodex and searched for a phone number that he didn't keep on speed dial. He dialed the number. The phone rang twice and then a woman's voice answered.

"Rei," he said, willing himself to be calm. "This is your father."

The phone clicked in his ear. Hino half expected it, but was still annoyed. OK, this wouldn't be as easy as he'd hoped. But dealing with hostile parties was something that a politician had to do from time to time. This would be no different.

Toguro thought he had him. But what Toguro didn't know was Hino had a way to bring Sailor Moon and the senshi into the equation.

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. Conspiracy

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 4: "Conspiracy"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

"Dr. Mizuno!"

Ami looked up in surprise at the nurse assisting her in the Emergency Room. She'd urgently grasped Ami's wrist before Ami could inject a drug into the intra-venous drip before her. The patient was a thirty-seven year old middle manager brought in for chest pains and Ami was about to give him something for his pain. But the nurse was staring at her like she held a butcher knife and Ami couldn't understand why.

"Doctor, there's thirty cc's in that syringe!" the nurse said, aghast at Ami's overt intent to inject this into the IV.

Ami looked at the syringe. She'd only meant to draw twenty cc's. Thirty cc's would have sent the patient into shock. But her eyes didn't lie. The syringe had thirty cc's.

"Oh my goodness," Ami gasped softly. The hand holding the syringe began to shake. Then the nurse tightened her grip. Ami looked up and saw the kindness in the nurse's eyes.

"It happens to all of us," the nurse said charitably, knowing that Ami was still an intern. "Be glad we caught it."

Ami swallowed her mortification. "Thank you," she whispered. Squirting out the excess solution, Ami gave the patient the proper injection.

Of course, it only happened in the first place because Ami was distracted by the condition of Ryo Urawa. When she'd left him at the end of her break, his vital signs were coming around to more acceptable levels. This was due in no small part to Sailor Moon, who had used the silver energy from the Moon Tier to boost Urawa's flagging life energy. Though it left her a little dizzy, no permanent damage seemed to have been suffered by her friend and princess. That left Urawa as her main concern. Would it be enough to get him over the initial hurdle? Or had Sailor Moon merely bought him a few extra hours or days?

"Here are the x-rays, Doctor," the nurse said, dragging Ami back to her current situation. Leaving the nurse to attend to the immediate needs of the patient, Ami put the x-ray onto the viewer and examined it. Her brain mentally calculated possibilities of where blockage or rupture might be, based on the patient's reactions to the pains he was experiencing. Her eyes quickly followed the narrowed-down search and in moments found what she was looking for.

"Get him started on blood-thinners please," Ami commanded.

"You found a blockage already?" marveled the nurse.

"Yes. Notify the cardiac unit. Tell them to be ready for an emergency angioplasty. We'll send him up as soon as he's stabilized." Ami glanced up at the clock on the wall. "And notify his regular physician please."

"Yes, Doctor," the nurse said, impressed by the command of the situation this novice doctor demonstrated.

Ami sighed as she pulled her vinyl gloves off. Two more hours until she was off and she could check on Urawa.

* * *

Shinjiro Hino paused at the bottom of the steps. This wasn't going to be pleasant. Reunions with his daughter never were. If the matter he carried within him wasn't so important, he'd avoid it all together. Tolerating her venomous put-downs and accusations were bad enough;  
but every time he saw her, she seemed to look more and more like his beloved Kei.

He mounted the steps. Looking at Rei was like looking at Kei's ghost haunting him and Rei's snarling bile was as if Kei was speaking to him through their daughter, blaming him for her premature death. Though he took no responsibility for such feelings if his dead wife indeed had them, he still felt regret. What they had couldn't be - - couldn't she understand that? Kei was as ill-suited to becoming a Dietman's partner as he was at maintaining a shrine. He'd had to make a choice and choosing his career and ambitions didn't mean he didn't love her and yearn for her. Why hadn't she been able to accept that? And seeing her disappointment and anger mirrored in their daughter's face - - well, was it any wonder why he left her in her grandfather's care?

At the top step, he found Rei sweeping. He always seemed to find her sweeping. It was almost like a nervous habit with the girl. Whenever she was angry or frustrated, frightened or insecure, she would have that broom in her hand. And if she was in one of those moods, this really wasn't going to be pleasant. But, like so many things in government and in life, it had to be done.

"Rei," Hino said. Rei looked up from her sweeping and immediately her eyes flared with anger.

"What are you doing here?" she snarled.

"Pleasant as always," he sighed.

"Well the only time I've ever seen you is when you want something from me! Family obligations aren't your style!"

"If . . ."

"Have you been to see Kaji-ojiisan?" Rei demanded.

"I'm paying for his extended care," Hino countered.

"That's not what I asked! Have you been to see him?"

"What point would there be in that?" Hino scowled. "He has Alzheimer's. I doubt he'd recognize me if I did go."

"He recognizes me," Rei rumbled.

"And does he remember your last visit?"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

Hino expelled a fatigued sigh. "I would prefer to keep my memories of my father uncontaminated by what's happened to him. Now if you're through, I have something to tell you."

"You're selling Lotus Blossom Shrine?" Rei asked sarcastically.

Hino remained silent out of frustration. But Rei's eyes suddenly widened.

"YOU ARE SELLING IT?" she howled.

"Would you rather I left it to rot?" Hino asked.

"That shrine has been in the family for nearly five hundred years!"

"I don't have either the time or the inclination to run it. Did you want it? After all, you're doing such a wonderful job running this place."

"Get - - out," Rei hissed.

"I should have known this was a mistake," Hino sighed. He turned to leave. "Could you please have Sailor Moon contact me. I'll alert my office to put her through immediately."

"What do you want with her?" Rei demanded.

"I have come across some information in the execution of my duties," he began carefully, "that might need the involvement of Sailor Moon and the senshi. I doubt you'd be interested since this information doesn't directly implicate me."

Rei shook with fury. As much as she despised this man for everything he'd done to her since she could remember, she hated it even more when something he said actually made sense. He turned away from her and took two steps toward the stairs.

"What information?" Rei asked through clenched teeth.

Hino turned back to her and for a moment seemed to be reading her - - not with the sight, for he had none, but with the trained instincts of a veteran politician. Then he looked around reflexively, as if fearing he was being spied upon.

"The assassination attempt on the Prime Minister yesterday was not the work of a crazed loner, as the media is reporting," Hino told her. "It was a conspiracy - - and they may try again."

As he spoke, Rei concentrated on him and her sight told her that he wasn't lying. A chill ran down her spine.

"By who?" she asked.

"I'm not certain - - yet, so I'd rather not say." And he turned to leave, his mission accomplished.

"I'll pass it along," Rei said just as he was reaching the top step. "If you get anymore information - - contact me."

Hino nodded, then began to descend the stairs. Inside he was privately amazed. That was the most civil exchange they'd had in fifteen years.

* * *

Ami sat by Urawa's bed in the ICU. The ventilator had been removed. That was a good sign. His blood pressure and pulse were better than they had been. But he still had four holes in his body that were healing and it still wasn't certain that he could hang on long enough to heal. Ami held onto the bed rail and just stared at him. She wondered again just what had happened to him before the Security Forces gunned him down? He looked like he hadn't eaten in a month.

His head moved slightly. Ami perked up. For an agonizing few moments there was no movement at all from him and the doctor's hopes began to flag. Then Urawa's eyes opened slowly. He seemed to take a few moments to take stock of his surroundings while Ami held her breath. Then he turned very slowly, as if the very act itself took every ounce of strength he could muster, to her.

"Mizuno-kun?" he whispered softly, his voice dry and hoarse from the ventilator.

"Yes," Ami smiled, feeling the urge to weep and suppressing it. "I imagine you're a little confused at the moment. That's natural."

"I was shot," he said softly, "by the National Security Force."

"You remember it?"

Urawa thought for the longest time, searching his memory though it seemed to be uncomfortable for him.

"No," he said finally. Ami seemed confused now.

"Then how did you know you'd been shot?" she asked. "Did you hear Dr. Yamamura talking about it?"

"I knew I was going to be shot," Ryo whispered. "Knew it before I approached the Prime Minister."

Ami grew pale.

"You can still see the future," she said in muted alarm.

"Yes," Ryo admitted. "Didn't go away when Rainbow Crystal was taken." He looked at Ami, seemed to focus on her with some effort, and smiled wanly. "You're just as beautiful as I remember."

Ami felt herself flushing. "So your precognitive abilities weren't connected with your heritage as a Dark Kingdom warrior? They were innate in you?"

"Must have been. Grew stronger as I got older. I could see things. I'd touch someone and know part of their future. Perfect strangers were open books to me. I saw their successes and their failures, their happiest moments and their saddest."

And Ryo's lower lip began to quiver as tears formed in his eyes.

"Urawa-kun," Ami began.

"Please," Ryo struggled, "call my Ryo. I'd like that." He smiled. "I saw you graduate - - years before you actually did. Summa cum Laude from Oxford University. That gave me - - at least one good memory."

"Ryo," Ami began. She wanted to ask so many things, but one thing superceded personal curiosity. "They say you - - tried to kill Prime Minister Arashi."

Ryo's brow furrowed. "No," he exhaled. He was drifting off. Speaking had taxed him too much. "Tried to stop it. They tried to kill him - - not me."

"Who?" Ami gasped, her hand gently on his shoulder to try to keep him conscious. "Who tried to kill him?"

But Ryo had drifted into darkness again. And Ami knew it was too risky to do anything but let him rest.

* * *

Artemis wandered into the kitchen of the apartment he and Minako shared with her - -"significant other" was the best term for it at the moment - - Toshihiro Manabe. What attracted him to the room was the sound of Minako singing happily. He also found her cooking.

"You're cooking lunch?" Artemis inquired.

"Well, technically it's breakfast, since we both just got up," Minako grinned. Then she whirled on the cat. "And I still don't care that it's after ten!"

"YOU'RE cooking breakfast?" Artemis repeated.

"I thought Toshi-chan deserved a home-cooked breakfast for a change, instead of that frozen pre-packaged junk," Minako beamed. The cat looked around. As usual, the kitchen was one spilled cup of flour short of qualifying for disaster relief and he knew it had been in good shape yesterday.

"You're cooking breakfast for Toshihiro? I thought you loved him."

"You know," Minako responded, giving the little white cat one of her familiar evil glares, "my foot still fits up your butt, cat."

"And once again she proves just how delicate and refined she is," Artemis muttered sarcastically. He leaped up onto a chair just the same. "What's gotten into you lately? You're always singing, you've got enough energy for three people and you whirl around like your skirt's on fire. I haven't seen you like this since you were thirteen and in love with that boy - - what was his name, Higashi?"

"Higashi?" Minako marveled, pausing for a moment to savor the memory. "Lord, I haven't thought of him in years. What did I ever see in him - - aside from the fact that he was totally cute?" Self-consciously she went back to whipping pancake batter. "I was a child back then, Artemis. I didn't have the first notion of what love was. I was so young and dumb, I wouldn't have even looked twice at a guy like Toshi-chan. And look what I would have missed."

"Is that what all this is about?" the cat inquired. "I thought you were just jazzed about this pilot you're doing."

"Well, that's part of it," Minako blushed. "Rei gave me some pretty good news. I think this is the one, Artemis. After all these years, I think it's finally going to happen this time."

"Yeah, I've heard that before," Artemis muttered.

"But you know - - even if it's just one more pipe dream," Minako continued, with a dreamy expression, "I can take it now. Because I've got something to fall back on - - or more accurately someone."

Artemis looked at her curiously.

Minako laughed nervously. "Because," and she glanced shyly at her furry companion, "I think - - I think what Toshi-chan and I have - - well, it might finally be . . ." Then Artemis noticed her expression cloud. "No, I better not say it."

"Why not?"

Minako stared at the saucepan in front of her. "Don't want to court trouble."

"Ace?" Artemis asked. Minako didn't respond, but then she didn't have to. "Minako, you're not still haunted by that prediction of his, are you? He's not clairvoyant and he's not omnipotent."

"He's also not a quitter," Minako mumbled.

"He's already been proven wrong," Artemis told her. "Minako, there's all sorts of 'true love' in the world. What about your love for your parents? That's as true a love as I've ever seen. What about your love for Usagi and the senshi? There's no doubt about that and you've known them for years." The cat swallowed. "And I'd like to think that after all these years - - that we mean something to each other."

She turned to him and he held his ground and her gaze.

"I mean, it's not the kind of love that means we're going to run out and get married or anything," Artemis said, shifting his gaze as shyness overwhelmed him, "but it's true love."

"Yeah," Minako smiled, her eyes tearing. "Suppose you got me there. Hey, I always said you were the brains of this team. Thanks for being there for me - - again."

"It's OK," Artemis said, returning her smile. "I knew the job was dangerous when I took it."

Just then the bedroom door opened and closed. Artemis noted the growing excitement in Minako's face.

"In here, Toshi-chan!" Minako called. Toshihiro entered, a smile on his face. He beamed at the sight of Minako and of her cooking. The mess dimmed that smile some. "Sorry," Minako offered. "You knew I was a slob."

"I didn't know it took this much material to make breakfast," he grimaced. Then he softened. "But I'm sure it'll be delicious. It'll be just the thing to get me through this afternoon's blocking meeting." He snaked his arm around Minako's hip. She turned her head and they kissed, then Toshihiro adjusted his glasses. "You have anything pressing today?"

"Nope. I'm still waiting for the studio to resume production and call me back." She turned to Toshihiro and winked. "Which they will."

"You know, Minako," Toshihiro began.

"Don't you even go there," she warned. "I have it on good authority."

"Your friend Rei?"

"She knows what she's talking about."

"How a modern girl like you can be so superstitious," he chuckled. "So, if you're not doing anything today, I was wondering if you'd like to come down to the studio with me."

"One of your extras call off?" Minako asked, pouring whatever she was cooking into bowls.

"No. But I figure you could lend me your comedic expertise. You know, let me bounce ideas off of you as I block this script." He shrugged, trying to conceal his guilty look. "And maybe at dinner time, we could, um . . ."

A sly look crossed Minako's face. "Get one of the trailers rocking?"

Toshihiro glanced at Artemis when he thought he heard the cat cough.

"You know, they warned me about the 'casting couch'," Minako began, then halted when her cell phone rang. "Hello? We do? Today?" Minako glanced at Toshihiro and grimaced. "Is it important? OK, Rei, don't yell! You'll short out the circuits in this thing. I'll be there."

Minako closed the phone and looked at Toshihiro - - and immediately regretted what she was about to say, for he clearly knew what was coming.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered. "The gang needs me."

"It's all right," Toshihiro replied, attempting to put up a brave front and conceal his disappointment - - and failing miserably. "I know how important your friends are to you. Another time maybe."

Minako reached out and grabbed the man's hand. He looked up at her.

'It's not that I want to," she told him. "It's just - - they need me and I got to go."

He nodded that he understood - - but he didn't really. Minako knew that.

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. First Move

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 5: "First Move"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Dr. Nishimoto finished applying the final chip to the complex board and locked it away in the metal housing designed to carry it. With that he sighed with relief, temporarily fogging the visor on his sterile suit. His hands were aching and he was eager to leave the cold room, but he was even more eager to see if his latest creation worked. Gingerly he picked up the device and hurried out of the room.

Sequestered back in his lab, Dr. Nishimoto willed himself to work calmly. He carefully wired the metal housing containing the central processor into the chassis of a metal drone. It was one meter long, phallicly cylindrical with two tail wings and two rudders at the base. Mounted in the nose was a state-of-the-art sensor array of his own design. Its propulsion system was an experimental energy conversion engine that used available sources of energy, whether radiant, kinetic, audio or magnetic. Since the entire device only weighed around 500 grams, most of its energy was used for guidance propulsion.

Nishimoto smiled, admiring the device as he glided his hand over it. It was a remarkable device, a testament as much to his persistence as to his inventiveness. And it was just a step to a greater triumph. And then Ashitaki Nishimoto would no longer be admired only for the wealth he could bring to other people.

As he walked down the hall toward the back lot of the Kujawa Heavy Industries research and development lab, Nishimoto was joined by another. Consumed with the test of his device, Nishimoto didn't acknowledge him.

"Is that the probe?" Hikaru Ishii asked. Nishimoto nodded impatiently. "Your industriousness does you credit, Nishimoto-San. I wasn't expecting you to finish for a few weeks yet."

"You never dawdle when you're working towards something you want," Nishimoto replied.

"But I thought we agreed not to produce any hardware until our funding was secured," Ishii reminded him.

"It's just a working model," Nishimoto told him. "It's easier to get petty details like this done beforehand. That way we can concentrate our full efforts on production - - when the funding comes through."

The pair ventured out into the back lot behind the research center. It was a wasteland of bare cement, black top and trash dumpsters. Ishii glanced at the engineer and saw him fish out a remote unit from his left lab coat pocket. He held the probe up in the air with his right.

"You're not going to launch from the ground?" Ishii asked.

"Why waste propulsion energy with a ground lift-off?" Nishimoto replied, his tone suggesting he was surprised by the question. Without another response, the engineer flung the probe into the air like it was a balsa wood glider. The probe rode the air currents for a few seconds while it gained enough solar energy to spark the probe into life. Immediately it was circling the lot waiting for a command from Nishimoto's remote.

"Very good," Ishii remarked. "It seems to be functioning just as planned. You say it doesn't use any solid fuel energy source at all?"

"Yes," Nishimoto smiled, his confidence growing. "You see I'm holding up my end of the project." He glanced over at his benefactor. "So what happened with the Prime Minister? Is there going to be interference from the government or that 'favorable attitude' you were talking about?"

"Too soon to tell," Ishii replied with a champion poker face. "That terrible business is still reverberating through the halls of power. I can't say what effect it's had on Arashi. I will say that such unfortunate tragedies do work to our advantage. Munitions do sell better in a climate of anxiety and an attempt on those who govern us does tend to create climates of anxiety."

"Do you think there will be another attempt?" Nishimoto ventured as he guided his drone off into the heart of Tokyo, the device flying about fifteen feet off of the ground.

"That's hard to know," Ishii replied. "I certainly hope not, for the good of our great nation. But if there is, it could only improve the favorable climate."

"How so?"

"One attempt is the work of a crazed loner," Ishii explained. "Two or more is clearly a conspiracy by unknown agents to collapse the government of Japan from within." Ishii smiled. "A conspiracy we would, of course, have to guard against with all the resources we can muster."

Nishimoto returned his attention to his remote control. The probe's visual and sensory telemetry were all coming in fine. Now the only thing to do was comb the city of Tokyo until the probe found the resonant energy signal it was searching for. That signal would lead to the single greatest energy source in existence on the planet, the energy source that would make his mobile suit the most powerful ever known.

* * *

"Hey, guys," Makoto beamed as she entered the "senshi meeting room" at Hikawa Shrine. She had her daughter over her shoulder. "Hope you don't mind me bringing Akiko along. San-San's at work and there's no one to sit with her."

"You bring that absolutely adorable little thing here anytime you want!" Rei smiled. She approached them both, Minako over her shoulder wearing a similar grin. "How's my precious little bundle?" Akiko gurgled happily at the priest.

"Not as little as she used to be," Makoto grinned, handing the baby over to Rei.

"Oh, you're right! She has gotten heavy!" marveled Rei.

"Well what do you expect?" gasped Minako. "Her parents are Hercules and The Amazon Queen! She'll probably qualify for the Pro Wrestling Circuit before she qualifies for first grade." Then Minako boosted up on Rei's shoulder and smirked at the baby. "Isn't dat wight, little precious precious? Yes it is!"

"Minako, stop talking to her like she's an idiot," Rei scowled. "She doesn't like it."

"How do you know?" Minako protested. Rei merely raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah. The 'reading' thing." She peered down at Akiko. "For real?"

Akiko reached up with a pudgy hand and squeezed Minako's nose. This elicited chuckles from the other two women.

"Gee, Blondie, looks like you've met your intellectual match," Makoto laughed.

"OK, button nose, you got me," Minako smirked. Then she leaned in and rubbed noses with the child. "But that only means you have to suffer my terrible revenge later." Akiko gurgled happily.

"Terrible revenge?" Rei glanced at her with a sly grin. "You're going to make her watch one of your movies? Minako, she's only an infant!"

Minako pulled down her eyelid, then grinned back. "Personally I think she'd really like 'Bloodbath At Bikini Beach', don't you?"

"Remind me never to ask you to babysit," Makoto needled.

"Hello, everyone," Ami called out as she entered the room. "I'm sorry I'm late. I wanted to tie up a few loose ends in the ER."

"Four minutes is late?" Minako asked, checking her watch.

"It is for her," Makoto smiled knowingly.

"Actually it's fortunate you called this meeting, Rei," Ami continued. "I've got some news that will interest you all, both on a personal basis and in a fashion that might necessitate the intervention of the senshi."

"Really?" Minako asked, suddenly all business. Ami hesitated. "So spill."

"Shouldn't we wait for Usagi?"

"We all know Usagi's not going to be here for at least another half hour," Rei sighed. "Go ahead. I'll fill her in when she finally manages to get here." Ami nodded reluctantly.

"First, you'll be happy to know that Ryo - - um, Urawa-kun regained consciousness this morning."

"That's good! Is he out of danger?" Makoto exclaimed.

"Not yet," Ami frowned. "But he was lucid enough to tell me that he didn't attempt to stab the Prime Minister. He was trying to stop someone else from doing it."

"Uh huh," Minako nodded.

"You don't believe him?" Ami asked, slightly defensive.

"I'd like to," Minako explained. "But if a guy's capable of stabbing another human being, he is capable of lying about it, too. We can't assume what he says is true right off the bat just because it's Urawa."

"No, I don't think he's lying," Rei interjected. "That's why I called this meeting. I got some information - - from a credible source - - that said Urawa didn't do it. That it was a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Arashi."

"That changes things," Minako responded, turning things over in her head.

"This source happen to say anything about who might have done it?" Makoto asked.

"No," Rei shook her head. "But I think we need to look into it, to clear Urawa if for no other reason. They've practically got him tried and convicted in the media and nobody seems to be leaping to his defense. That's not right."

"So what was Urawa doing there?" Makoto asked. "Was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"No," Ami answered. "He foresaw what was going to happen. He was trying to stop it. That's what he told me."

"Urawa can still see the future?" Rei asked. The others seemed surprised by the revelation.

"Yes," Ami admitted. "Apparently it's an inborn ability and not connected with being a Rainbow Warrior host."

"Makes sense," Rei nodded. "Grandpa still had his sight even after that - - that thing was expelled from him."

"That could be useful," Minako mused. She caught Ami looking at her aghast. "Hey, we need information if we're going to put a stop to this. We have to know who to fight. And if we can get a gauge on their strengths and weaknesses, that'll only make the fight shorter."

"Everything you say is perfectly logical," nodded Ami. "Yet I hate pressing him. He's still very weak. Telling me what he did before severely taxed him. And," and Ami looked away, grimacing, "it was never an ability he particularly enjoyed. And I get the impression that feeling hasn't changed."

Makoto reached out and put her free hand on Ami's shoulder. "I sympathize, Ames. But you got to look at the big picture here. Urawa may be the key to getting these guys. Even if he only tells us what he saw before, that's something more than we knew. And it's not just Urawa who's depending on us to crack this. It might be all of Japan."

"You're right, of course," Ami surrendered.

"Fine, that's settled," Minako proclaimed. "You try to get as much out of Urawa as you safely can. Rei?"

"Fire Reading," the priest nodded. "I'm on it."

"I'll get with Artemis and see if we can turn up anything suspicious," Minako added.

"What about me?" Makoto asked.

"See if you can arrange some place to drop Akiko at a moment's notice in case we need you," Minako said. Then she smiled at a private joke.

"What, Blondie?" Makoto prodded.

"I just had a mental image of Sailor Jupiter fighting bad guys with Akiko strapped to her chest in one of those baby harnesses," Minako chuckled. The comment drew reluctant laughs from Ami and Rei.

"Keep dreaming, goof-ball," Makoto snickered. "No way that's happening."

"Hey, it would solve your sitter problem," Minako offered. Then her eyes narrowed slyly. "And I figure you ought to be used to carrying heavy weights chest high by now."

And then she ducked Makoto's playful swing.

* * *

"Oh, Rei is just going to KILL me!" Usagi muttered to herself as she hurried down the busy street.

It had been one thing after another this morning. First she burned breakfast. Then she had to take a call from Baishaku-San discussing the plot for the new manga the publisher was coming out with titled "Secret Agent Angel". Usagi was going to get to pencil now and the woman was bursting to tell someone. So after the call from Baishaku-San, she called Naru. And naturally she had to hear how Naru was doing, since Naru was due to have her baby in three to four weeks. So of course one thing led to another and by the time she realized she was late the bus was already gone. And Mamoru couldn't drive her because he was sleeping and she absolutely refused to wake him. Anyone could see that none of it was her fault. She was a victim of circumstance.

"It's not going to stop Rei, though," Usagi scowled. Several admiring glances from men she passed by on the street went unnoticed. Several more curious glances from others wondering what she was scowling and muttering about went unnoticed as well.

"Hey, Dumpling!" bellowed a husky voice over the traffic. Usagi stopped. She wasn't certain she'd heard correctly, because she was on the east end of the business district and traffic was both loud and heavy. "Dumpling!" came again and Usagi turned to the voice.

"HARUKA!" Usagi squealed and clopped over on her highly impractical - - but very cute - - platform clogs to the royal blue Fiat sportscar idling nearby. Haruka was alone in the car, dressed casually in dark slacks and a man's sportshirt with the sleeves rolled up. Her sandy blonde hair dangled into her eyes belligerently as she flashed the woman a warm, affectionate grin. "It's so nice to see you! It seems like I never see you and Michiru anymore!"

"That's the life of a Formula-1 driver," Haruka shrugged. "I only just got back from Paris a couple of days ago. And Michiru's getting ready to tour again, and she insists I play piano for her whenever I can." She shrugged. "Gotta keep the little woman happy." Then she leered playfully at Usagi. "Married life treating you good? Because if it's not, I know a little hotel . . ."

"You stop that!" Usagi snapped, screwing up her mouth with mock indignation. "I'll tell Michiru on you."

"Can't blame a girl for trying," Haruka smirked. "So where are you off to?"

"The shrine. Rei needs to talk to me about something," Usagi said. Then her eyes lit up. "Oh, Haruka, could you drive me over there? I'm already late! You'd be saving my life - - literally!"

"Um," Haruka hesitated, then glanced around warily, "Dumpling - - you haven't noticed anything - - odd, have you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Feelings? Premonitions? Stuff like that?"

"No. But maybe Rei has. That might be what she wants to talk to me about. The others are going to be there, too. You can sit in if you want. You're a . . ."

Suddenly Haruka's head turned to a voice only she heard. Usagi noted the slight puff of a breeze lift her skirt slightly. Then Haruka's hand clamped onto her wrist.

"Get down," Haruka whispered urgently. Ever slow to act, Usagi only gaped at her.

Then the office front across the street from them exploded out into the busy business section. Flames licked out from the gutted business amid plumes of thick, acrid black smoke. Razor shards of glass shot out, propelled by the explosion, slicing and impaling any unfortunate nearby. Usagi huddled reflexively against the car, her hands over her head. She felt the sidewalk shudder beneath her from the force of the blast. Only when a second blast didn't immediately follow did she rise from her crouch.

Haruka was already out of the car, already transformed into Sailor Uranus and racing across the street through stopped traffic. Cursing herself for her slow reactions, Usagi stuck her hand into the air and transformed into Sailor Moon amid the panic and chaos in the streets. Once the transformation took hold, she stumbled through the stalled cars and debris to Sailor Uranus' side.

"What happened?" Sailor Moon gasped. She and Uranus were looking into the burning remains of what had once been a small investment brokerage office. "What could have caused this?"

"I don't know precisely," Uranus replied, "but it was no accident."

"What?" the senshi cried in shock.

"That's why I was here," Uranus explained. "The wind gave me a premonition that something bad was going to happen here today. And the wind doesn't warn me about accidents or natural disasters. But I didn't see this happening until it was too late. Must have been distracted." She surveyed the burning wreckage with poorly concealed frustration. "I wish Neptune was here. Her power could deal with this fire."

Uranus glanced around and found Sailor Moon standing over twelve pedestrians who had been caught in the blast. Some were burned. Others had shards of glass sticking out of them. The ones who weren't lucky enough to be unconscious writhed on the pavement in agony. Sailor Moon stuck out her right hand and the Moon Tier appeared.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss," she called out meekly, supplicantly, as if begging the Silver Crystal within her to help.

Silver energy radiated out and blanketed the fallen victims. Forced to squint from the brilliance, Uranus saw some of the burns begin to lighten. More significantly, she saw the agony that the victims all felt quell under the soothing influence of the Moon Tier. The admiration for Sailor Moon that she felt deep down and hid so tenaciously welled up in her once more. Sailor Moon was so much greater than she was. Sailor Moon's power could heal, while all she could do was destroy.

Then Sailor Moon sank to her knees. Instantly Uranus realized that the Princess was trying to do too much, to go beyond what her limits prescribed. Still, doggedly, silver energy radiated out from the Moon Tier and continued to ease the suffering of the blast victims.

"Stop it!" Uranus snapped, snatching the Moon Tier away from the weakened Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon's head drooped and she braced herself with her arms against the sidewalk.

"Please give it back," Sailor Moon whimpered. "They're still hurting."

"You can't help them by injuring yourself," Uranus growled. "You've done all you can for them - - all that anyone can expect of you."

"But they're still hurting," Sailor Moon sobbed. Sailor Uranus knelt down next to her and, in an unusual gesture for the gruff, remote senshi, gathered Sailor Moon in and comforted her as the wail of sirens approached them.

And twenty meters above them, the observation drone of Ashitaki Nishimoto recorded everything.

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. Prescience

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 6: "Prescience"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

The blue Fiat pulled up to the curb and parked. Energetically Haruka hopped out of the driver's seat without even opening the door, a habit she formed from racing. She was around the car to the other side in a flash, opening the door and helping her passenger, Usagi, out. Usagi was somber and withdrawn, a condition Haruka knew was the result of the bombing they'd witnessed and the subsequent human trauma that they hadn't been able to totally alleviate. Haruka didn't blame her. The sight of a dozen or so people burned and riddled with projectile glass shards simply because they'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time sickened her. And Usagi had always been so much more sensitive to such things.

"You going to make it, Dumpling?" Haruka inquired.

"Yes," Usagi said absently. "Thank you for driving me here. It was very kind of you."

She started for the steps that led up to Hikawa Shrine. Instantly Haruka was beside her, a gentle hand in the small of her back

"Come on, Dumpling," Haruka joked, flashing her a "bad boy" smile. "It wouldn't be much of a date if I didn't walk you home."

Usagi didn't smile.

Two-thirds of the way up the stairs, Haruka spotted Rei at the top. The priest was in her white and blue robes and clearly frantic. Her black mane of hair flying behind her, Rei raced down the steps to the two women. She clutched Usagi by the arms.

"What happened?" Rei gasped, nearly in tears. "I felt you half way across the district!"

For a moment Usagi's mouth moved but no words came out. Then anguish overtook her again.

"Oh Rei, it was horrible!" Usagi wailed and collapsed against the priest. "All those people! All those poor people!" And she cried on Rei's shoulder while the priest held her and supported her.

"You tell me all about it, Usagi," Rei whispered, stroking the woman's blonde hair. "I'm here for you for as long as you need me."

"But," Usagi hiccuped, tears still flowing like rivers. "But what about what you wanted?"

"I'll tell you after you're done," Rei assured her. They began heading up the stairs. Rei suddenly turned to Haruka.

"You might want to hear this, too," Rei told her, then added, "if you've got the time."

The words came out a little sharper than Rei had intended, though the feelings behind them did exist. If they fazed Haruka at all, she gave no sign. The lanky woman merely nodded and headed toward the Shrine with them.

Above them, Deimos and Phobos circled and chattered urgently.

* * *

Ami approached the nursing station in Intensive Care mechanically. Her attention since entering the ward was on the glass cubicle Ryo Urawa was in. One of the two guards by the door glanced at her. He recognized her from before and his mouth hardened, but he made no other moves.

"Back again, huh?" the duty nurse inquired. Ami turned to her and found it was the same woman from her previous visit.

"I don't mean to be a bother," Ami mumbled.

"Hey, it's nice to know somebody cares about him," the nurse replied. "I've seen patients in here for as long as a month and the only people who visited were the attending physician and the assigned nurse. Now THAT'S sad."

"Has there been any change in his condition?"

"No," the nurse replied, "and in a way that's good. It's too bad that Sailor Moon can't come back and spread around a little more of whatever she did."

"A great many people depend on her," Ami remarked, "I imagine. There's only so much even someone like her can do. So it's all right if I go in?"

"You're the doctor," the nurse smiled. Ami nodded and headed for the unit Ryo was in. The guards passed her through without incident and she sat down next to the bed.

"Ami," Ryo smiled weakly. "Have you been gone long? I have trouble keeping track of time."

"It's afternoon," she told him. "I imagine you've been sleeping."

There was a pregnant moment.

"It looks bad, doesn't it?" he said. Ami shifted uncomfortably. "My wounds, I mean. Don't lie. You never could do it convincingly. You don't have to give me false hopes. I took four bullets. That's not a cut finger."

"You would be smart enough to figure that out," Ami remarked. "Yes, you're in very bad shape, Ryo. But it doesn't mean you can't pull through. We're doing everything we can for you."

Ryo smiled weakly. "Encouragement you were always good at. Go ahead, Ami. Ask what you want to ask. I'll try to stay awake this time."

"I don't want to overtax you," she offered.

"Some things are more important than personal needs," Ryo said. Ami stared at him. He'd said it almost like it was a credo. "Ask away."

"You said you were trying to stop the assassination of the Prime Minister," Ami began. "Who was trying to kill him?"

"His bodyguard," Ryo exhaled. "The one rear left. He had a knife in a spring feed harness under his coat. Was going to stab him in the back inside the reception hall." Ryo's face became more agitated. "I had to stop him. It would have been the end. They would have risen. They would have destroyed the world."

"Who?" prodded Ami.

"The Hard Suits," Ryo gasped out. Ami glanced at the vital sign monitor.

"Ryo," Ami said, placing her hands on his chest. "Ryo, please! Calm down! In your condition you must conserve your strength."

"No," Ryo gasped. "You have to know, Ami. You have to know. If Arashi dies, the end will come. No one can stop them. No one - - not even the senshi. I saw them. I saw them die." He glanced over at Ami with what Ami could only describe as desperation and perhaps just a hint of paranoia. "I saw you die."

"You thought you saw me die," Ami tried to reassure him. "You did think that once before and it proved to be a misinterpretation of what you saw."

"Not this time," Ryo shook his head. The man was in anguish and not just from his injuries. "But it won't happen now. As long as you keep Arashi alive until you stop them."

"Ryo, who is this 'them' you keep referring to?" Ami asked.

"The Hard Suits," he exhaled. "Killing machines. I don't know who built them. I don't know how they run or what sustains them." He gasped for air, a rasping wheeze that made the hackles rise on Ami. She glanced at the vital sign monitors again. "All I know is they can't be stopped."

"Ryo," Ami said, leaning in and clutching his hand. "Please stop. Think of something pleasant. Focus on it. Breathe in and out slowly."

"Yes, Doctor," Ryo smiled and did what he was told. As his breathing steadied, Ami sat back in her chair. "Ami, you're the best medicine I've had in a long time."

The doctor felt herself flush.

"You still get embarrassed by affection," he chuckled wanly. Then he sighed. "Oh, I wish things had been different between us. A day hasn't gone by that I haven't missed you. I'm sorry if I'm embarrassing you."

"You didn't have to leave," Ami reminded him.

"Yes I did," Ryo replied, his eyes clouding over with inner pain.

"Why?" Ami forced herself to ask. "I wouldn't have bit you."

Ryo frowned. "I had a vision of us."

Ami took in his expression and body language for a moment. "A bad one?"

Ryo scowled. "We were almost fifteen. You got pregnant. You defied your mother and carried the - - our child - - to term. You dropped out of the senshi. Because of that, things didn't go well against the Death Busters. You had just come out of labor when Pharaoh 90 encompassed Earth." Tears rolled down Ryo's cheeks. He was clearly haunted by the memory. "You and our daughter - - died screaming - - along with everyone else."

Ami's hand slithered into Ryo's. He gripped it as hard as he could.

"So I stayed away," he whispered.

"It must have been so hard for you," Ami offered.

"If it was the last time I'd see something that horrible, I could have lived with the pain. But it wasn't." He turned his head slowly, weakly, to Ami. "Can you possibly imagine? You walk into a store and buy a canned drink. When the clerk touches your hand to give you your change, you suddenly see she's going to be shot and killed in a robbery in seven months. And you don't dare say anything because you don't know how warning her will change the future. It might save her, but it might just make things worse. The bandit might just go somewhere else and end up killing a school bus full of children - - or something."

"Ryo," Ami tried to interject. She recalled Usagi mentioning in one of her e-mails several years ago about a gunman killing a school bus full of children.

"And that was just one time. Every third or fourth person I came in contact with brought a vision with them. Many were ordinary. But there were tragedies, too. More than one. When it happened, at first, I actually tried to warn them," Ryo continued, his breath occasionally rattling in his damaged lungs, "like I did when you were going to be attacked by the Rainbow Warrior." He sighed with fatigue and guilt. "They didn't believe me. I'd keep trying until they'd call the police. That's why I've got a record now." He sighed. "After a while I'd stop trying."

Ami looked at the vital sign monitors. Silently she signaled the duty nurse.

"Mostly I just withdrew. Even the good visions became more than I could take. I had no right to be that intimate with a perfect stranger. I had no right. If I saw something that I couldn't ignore, I'd try to intervene myself. Usually I managed to change things just enough that what I saw didn't happen. Sometimes I just made things worse. And whatever happened, it wasn't without consequences. The world began to look at me as delusional and paranoid. I lost jobs. Drove people away. Between the police records, the spotty job history and the chronic depression of seeing vision after vision come true, tragedies that I should have prevented, but couldn't - - or didn't, I just," and he looked up at the ceiling helplessly. "Sometimes I wonder, Ami - - why me?"

Ryo noticed the nurse then. She was at his IV line, injecting something into the drip. The shell of a man glanced at Ami.

"It's a sedative," she told him. "You're becoming far too agitated, Ryo. It's not good for you in your present condition."

"You're the doctor," he whispered. "Just - - please say you believe me."

"I do, Ryo," she said, squeezing his hand. "The evidence is too great not to."

"Thank you," he sighed. His eyelids drooped.

"I'll visit you again, Ryo. I promise."

"That's good," he said, his speech slurred by the drug. "We had a beautiful daughter, Ami. She looked just like you."

* * *

As Artemis typed on his computer keyboard, studying the results displayed on the screen before him, Minako walked into the room. She had on cut-off shorts, one of Toshihiro's old shirts knotted at her midriff and was munching on pastry she'd picked up on the way home from Hikawa Shrine. The woman flopped down on the floor, sitting cross-legged next to the white cat, flipped her long blonde hair back and peered over his shoulder.

"Those will make you fat, you know," the cat commented dryly as he typed.

"I'll sweat it off in dance class," Minako countered. "Besides, Toshi-chan likes rounder women."

"You may have a series to shoot soon," Artemis reminded her. "And the camera adds ten pounds."

"Leave me alone or I'm going to add ten pounds of my foot to the back of your neck!" Minako huffed. Then she pushed the rest of her pastry into her mouth just to spite him. "Vou vine anyfig?" she mumbled through the pastry.

"No," the cat scowled. "It'd be nice if I knew where to look. About the only thing I have is a nice little police record for Urawa."

"For what?" Minako asked, peering at the screen.

"Eight arrests, ranging from stalking and menacing to a couple of battery counts," Artemis related. "Two convictions. He did nine months in prison about two years ago on a battery charge. He's also had two court ordered mental evaluations."

"Were you able to hack into them?"

"Please," huffed the cat. "I'm a professional. His last evaluation judged him as functionally sane, but subject to bouts of paranoid schizophrenia and depression. Sounds like your basic recipe for a crazed assassin to me."

"And me," nodded Minako. "And yet both Ami and Rei say he didn't do it and that's good enough for me. Still you have to wonder where he went wrong."

With that, they both heard the door open. Minako sprang to her feet and ran out in the hallway while Artemis saved his files and hid his computer. Toshihiro was in the hall, impossibly, because he wasn't due back from his production meeting until at least five. Minako glanced at the clock and it said three forty-one.

"Hi, Toshi-chan!" Minako chirped anxiously. "What are you doing home? Did the meeting end early?"

"No," the chubby director sighed, picking up a folder that was laying on the hall table. "I left without my notes on the camera movements for the second act. Sometimes I think I have to pin something to my forehead to keep from forgetting it. How'd your date go?"

"D-Date?" Minako sputtered.

"With 'the gang'," Toshihiro muttered and Minako could see he was still hurt by the events of that morning. "Damn it, that third page isn't in here. It must still be on the pad."

Toshihiro turned toward the bedroom. Unsure if Artemis was cleaned up yet, Minako moved to intercept him.

"What are you doing?" Toshihiro asked.

"Um," Minako replied, momentarily stuck.

"Minako, what's in the bedroom that you don't want me to see?"

"Nothing!" Minako replied too quickly and she knew it.

Her beau's eyes narrowed. He pushed past her and opened the door to the bedroom. All he found was Artemis curled up on the foot of the bed, looking at him.

"See," Minako said defensively. "Nothing. God, paranoid much?"

"Minako, what are you hiding from me?" Toshihiro asked. He wouldn't look at her.

"Toshi!" the blonde moaned.

"Are you in love with someone else?"

"Toshi, don't say things like that!" Minako protested. She eased around to face him and draped her arms around his neck. "Toshi, I don't need anyone else. I'm right where I want to be - - with you."

"That's not a denial," he said, anguish in his puppy dog eyes.

"Toshi, I love you!"

"That's not a denial either."

Minako bowed her head in frustration.

"Minako, I know I'm not the handsomest guy . . ."

"OH WOULD YOU STOP THAT!"

"Well what am I supposed to think? I'm not stupid, Minako! You're clearly hiding something from me! You're not as clever as you think you are! You're a beautiful woman! I'm just a lumpy, dumpy guy who makes handsome guys look good on camera! And given your track record . . .!"

"Man, you make one mistake and it dogs you for the rest of your life!" the blonde fumed bitterly. "Toshi-chan, this is different from my first marriage! I didn't love Tomokazu! I love you! I am not having an affair!"

"Then what are you hiding?"

Just then Minako's cell phone sounded. For a moment she wanted to ignore it, but Minako realized that it might be Rei or Ami with new information on the case. She opened the cell phone as Toshihiro looked away with disgust.

"Hello?" Minako asked.

"It's Ami," the voice on the other end said.

"This really isn't a good time, Ami."

"I apologize. Ryo identified the assassin as one of the Prime Minister's bodyguards. If you can find video of the incident, he's behind Arashi and to the left."

"Got it," Minako replied and hung up.

"Was that him?" Toshihiro asked.

"Yeah," scowled Minako. "I call him 'Ami' so my jealous boyfriend won't suspect."

"I'm sorry if I'm being irrational. The thought of losing you makes me that way."

"You're not losing me!"

"Then what is it?" Toshihiro demanded. "What are you hiding?"

Minako exhaled and looked to Artemis. The cat returned her look with a helpless one of his own. Then she grew a resolute expression that Artemis recognized all too well.

"I didn't want to tell you because I didn't know how you'd take it," Minako said, her manner stiff and clipped. Her hand went up into the air. "I'm hiding this."

Her henshin stick appeared in her hand.

"Where did that come from?" Toshihiro gasped.

"The same place this did. Venus Planet Power Make Up."

Minako seemed to be enveloped by light. When it dissipated, she was gone and the sailor senshi Toshihiro recognized as Sailor Venus stood before him.

"Minako?" Toshihiro inquired numbly.

"Satisfied? Now if you'll excuse me, Sailor Venus has bad guys to catch and a world to save."

She headed for the door, motioning Artemis to follow. Toshihiro's head was still spinning when he heard the door slam.

Continued in Chapter 7


	7. Secrets and Lies

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 7: "Secrets and Lies"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Three women emerged from the shrine on the sacred grounds of Hikawa. Spotting them, two crows angled down from the skies. One, Phobos, landed atop the roof of the building, perched on the edge by the eaves. The other, Deimos, was more bold and landed, with some difficulty, on the narrow shoulder of the shrine priest, Rei Hino. As Rei was still conversing with her guests Usagi and Haruka, she didn't immediately respond to the crow. Deimos bent in and nuzzled the priest's cheek.

"Not now, Deimos," Rei scowled, brushing at the bird.

Petulantly, the crow cawed at her.

"Don't be jealous, Deimos. This is important."

Almost in a huff, the crow leaped off and joined her partner on the roof.

"What is it, hungry?" Haruka asked.

"No, she's upset and needs to cuddle," Rei replied. "Deimos and Phobos are sensitive to changes in the psychic aura of the city. They're probably responding to the fear and despair generated by that bombing you told me about. It's just that Deimos doesn't deal with it as well as her sister does."

Haruka digested this. To her, they were just crows. She'd never considered that an animal might have emotions. And the way Rei related to them, almost as if she could understand the noises they made, was almost supernatural. But then she'd never believed in the supernatural until she'd become a senshi and seen such things with her own eyes - - and animals had never held much interest for her.

"Do you think this is all related?" Usagi asked out of the blue. "Is it some new enemy making people do this?

"Like I said before, it might just be coincidence," Haruka told her. "Or it might be a separate group using the unrest of the moment to piggy-back on. If someone comes forward and claims credit for it, we'll know for sure. I don't intend to wait for that, though. As soon as Michiru gets home, she and I will start looking around."

"Be careful, please," Usagi appealed to her.

"Careful is my middle name, Dumpling," Haruka smiled at her. Then she glanced at Rei. "Any chance you can hit up this 'source' of yours for any more information?"

Rei grew tight-lipped. "I doubt there's anything more I can gain from that source," she responded thinly. "I can stoke up the fires again, but I can't guarantee success. If the kami aren't willing to talk, I can't force them."

The trio had reached the top step of the staircase leading down to the street level. Rei turned, grasped Usagi by the arms and looked her straight in the eye.

"You're sure you're all right?" Rei asked.

"Yes, Rei," Usagi sighed. "If you find out anything, please call me - - or Ami. Maybe it would be better if you called Ami. She can make sense of stuff like this." Suddenly Usagi stopped and stared at Rei, specifically her left shoulder.

"What?" the priest asked. Reddening quickly, Usagi pointed to the priest's shoulder. Rei glanced at it - - then suddenly whirled and faced the shrine. "DEIMOS!" she roared.

The crows retreated quickly.

* * *

Ami waved to Minako when she spotted the woman enter the hospital lobby. Her friend and comrade in arms was wearing cut-off blue jeans and a man's shirt. She had a large brown shoulder bag draped over her left shoulder and a laptop computer in her right hand. Ami found this strange, but put it aside and led her friend to one of the offices just off the Emergency Room.

"I'm glad you could come so quickly, Minako," Ami told her when they were safely inside the office. Then she looked more closely. "You seem irritated. I apologize if I took you away from something important."

"Forget about it, Ami," Minako sighed as she plugged the laptop's phone cord into the wall jack. "I suppose it was just as much my fault as his." Ami found this a confusing response, but let it pass.

The other oddity she couldn't pass.

"Minako, if you're carrying your laptop in your hand," Ami wondered aloud, "what's in the bag?"

"My secretary," Minako smirked. She opened the bag. To Ami's surprise, Artemis lunged out. The cat draped himself over the side of the bag and exhaled with exaggeration.

"I REALLY hate traveling in luggage," the feline gasped.

"Hospitals don't let cats in," Minako reiterated. "How else was I going to sneak you in here?"

"Dark glasses and a mustache?" Artemis asked. Ami and Minako tried to hold it in, but both emitted rude snorts of laughter.

Unmindful of them, Artemis hopped up onto the table. He opened the laptop and began typing furiously.

"Urawa say anything else?" Minako asked while Artemis worked.

"Nothing - - relevant to this case," Ami replied, averting her eyes. Minako sensed her friend's turmoil.

"So how's he doing?" she asked.

Ami drew in air. "He's critical, but stable."

"OK, once more without the 'doctor-ese'. Is he going to make it?"

"We're trying."

Minako grasped Ami's hand. "Hey, if there's anything I can do."

"Thank you, Minako," Ami whispered.

"I mean it. I played a doctor in a movie once," Minako said. Then she batted her eyes in a "dumb blonde" manner. "No, wait - - I played AROUND WITH a doctor in a movie once."

Ami gave her a cynical smirk.

"There, see," Minako grinned. "You do still know how to smile."

"Found it," Artemis told them.

Both women crowded in close. On the display was news footage of the Prime Minister entering the auditorium where he was to give an address. The picture was frozen moments before Ryo's entry into the scene.

"Ryo said the assassin was to the rear and left of Arashi-sama," Ami informed them, pointing to the display. Minako noted the familiar way she referred to Urawa, but let it pass.

Artemis tapped some keys. A box surrounded the bodyguard on Arashi's rear left and the photo grew bigger. A few more keystrokes enhanced the photo.

"I'm running a search program of police files and government registries," Artemis told them. "If I don't come up with a hit, I can expand my search. It'll take longer because I'm hacking into . . ." A file suddenly came up on the display. "There we go. Seita Taguchi. We've even got an address."

"Great," Minako said, committing the address to memory. "Think I'll pay him a visit."

"I think it would be prudent for another senshi to go with you," Ami advised.

"Back-up? For me?" goggled Minako. "The woman who launched a million Sailor V fanboys?"

"It's a good idea, Minako," Artemis scowled.

"All right," Minako frowned, then glanced at Ami. "You want the job?"

"I, um, think I should stay with Ryo," Ami said, embarrassed. "I, um, he-he might recall something else useful."

"Sounds like a plan," Minako smiled warmly. "I'll call Makoto. Hope she's got a babysitter lined up"

* * *

Shinjiro Hino was on the phone with his real estate agent. It was a hectic time at the Diet suddenly, with the bombing in the Juuban district coming so closely behind the attempt on Prime Minister Arashi's life. Rumors rattled through the halls, using familiar to this era words like "terrorism" and "homeland security". The hour recess for lunch had been the first time he'd had to check on the progress of negotiations to sell the land under Lotus Blossom shrine. As such,the buzz from his intercom was not welcome.

"Yes?" Hino asked his assistant.

"Toguro-sama is here, Hino-sama," the young man informed him. "He'd like to speak with you. He's brought Ishii-San of Kujawa Heavy Industries with him."

Hino scowled. He knew Toguro was here to do a little arm twisting because the funding appropriation they wanted wasn't moving fast enough to suit him - - or his client, no doubt. It was something he had neither the time nor the desire to accommodate right now. But he knew that he still had to play carefully around Toguro, despite the old man's loss of status. Hino brushed his mustache, sighed in frustration and told his assistant to show them in.

"Hino-San," Toguro said with indulgent gratitude as they were ushered in. "Thank you for seeing us, particularly on short notice. I imagine things are pretty busy here."

"You're right. Things are very hectic at the moment, given what happened over the last few days," Hino replied.

"Nasty business," Toguro scowled. "Any idea who did it yet?"

"If the security forces know, they haven't told us yet," Hino answered. "Because of that, I am really pressed for time, though. I don't mean to rush you . . ."

"Perfectly understandable," Toguro said, waving off his concerns. "I just wanted to introduce you to Hikaru Ishii of Kujawa Heavy Industries. He's one of the interests I represent concerning that matter we discussed."

"A pleasure, Dietman," Ishii smiled and offered his hand. Hino shook it and gave him a respectful nod. "Toguro-San has told me a great deal about you. I'm honored to have you representing my company's interests in the Diet - - particularly now. Recent events should make it clear how important it is to Japan to have state-of-the-art defense equipment."

"Not to mention the export potential," Toguro added. "Something like this could pull this country out of the recession Arashi's mired us in."

"I don't dispute the need for that," Hino began warily. "But tax incentives for industry are tough sells in economically depressed times. Promises have been made before and not always lived up to. That's part of why we're where we are today. The Diet and the public aren't going to give money to empty promises."

"I'm sure someone as eloquent as you could manage to persuade them," Ishii told him. "My company would be quite willing to provide financial support to keep an eloquent visionary such as yourself in the Diet."

"Your generosity is appreciated," Hino nodded. "But it is said that one voice, no matter how eloquent, is often not as persuasive as a crowd. I doubt that even Kujawa has enough money to influence the entire Diet. But if the public can be influenced to put pressure on the Diet to act, I'm confident that I can guide them in the desired direction."

"Well thought out," Toguro nodded.

"So how would this be done?" Ishii inquired.

"Recent violence has caught the public's attention," Hino explained. "If your company can give the public something concrete to grasp onto as a means of salvation, the appropriation should slide through. But it must be an actual product, rather than vague promises."

"But," swallowed Ishii, "I would hate to reveal confidential development plans to the public. Why, the potential of copying from our competitors . . ."

"I'm not suggesting you show all of your cards, Ishii-San," Hino smiled reassuringly. "But you're going to need to show something. Do you have some sort of working prototype that can make a good visual, something that can be plastered over the news reports? If it can be demonstrated, that would be even better." He leaned forward. "You don't have to decide now. Look through your R and D for something. Just remember, the sooner you act, the sooner I can act."

Ishii nodded. Toguro eased him to his feet and guided him toward the door. As he did so, the old man turned to Hino and said softly, "I'll work on him from my end."

Hino nodded. As they left, the Dietman watched Toguro and puzzled at what all those two were keeping from him. For he knew Toguro too well and he knew that Toguro never, ever showed all of his cards.

* * *

Strolling through the lobby of the high-rise apartment building like she knew where she was going, Minako led Makoto to the elevators. Because of her attitude, no one noticed that they didn't belong there - - only that they were two very beautiful women. When the elevator car arrived, the pair got on and headed for the eleventh floor.

"I'm glad you could get a sitter for Akiko," Minako commented. "I know it's short notice . . ."

"Fortunately Grandma wasn't doing anything at the moment," Makoto replied. "And she just adores Akiko. I think she spoils her."

"That's what grandparents are for," Minako smirked. "So how do you want to play this?"

"What choices do we have?"

"Well, we can knock as senshi and try to bully the information out of him," Minako explained, "or we can stay civilian and flirt and try to sweet-talk the info out of him." She glanced over at Makoto, who was wearing a button front blouse. "You might want to undo a couple of buttons on your blouse for that one."

"Blondie, I'm a married woman!" Makoto protested.

"So?"

"And I love San-San!"

"Well I love Toshi-chan! I wasn't planning on jumping into bed with this guy! Sheesh, you're as bad as Toshi is!"

"Let's do the first one," Makoto replied. "So what did you mean by that 'bad as Toshi is' crack? You two having problems?"

Minako grimaced. Makoto recognized the expression.

"Well let me know if you need anything from me," the taller woman told her friend.

"Sure," Minako replied softly.

They came up to the apartment door. After changing, Jupiter pressed the buzzer. A few moments passed, then a burly, rough-and-tumble man with black hair opened the door. When he realized Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus were at the door, he tried to close it very quickly. Jupiter, though, was faster. She threw herself against the door, forcing it back, and barreled into the apartment, with Venus on her heels. Seita Taguchi stumbled backwards several paces, then balled his fists and came up swinging. Being nearest, Jupiter was his first target. But the senshi evaded the blow, seizing his wrist in her hands, then swung her leg up and connected with his jaw. Staggered, Taguchi fell back several steps. He turned to make another lunge at Jupiter.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!" Venus called out. The golden heart-shaped links shot out from her and encircled Taguchi's torso until he was caught in the chain's grip.

"What is all this!" Taguchi roared as he struggled to burst the chain's grasp. "This is my place and you can't . . .!"

"Sit down!" Jupiter barked. She swept her leg across the back of his ankles, pulling his legs out from under him. Taguchi fell to the floor like a sack of flour, Jupiter towering over him menacingly. "We'll ask the questions."

"So, chuckles," Venus began, squatting next to him, "who ordered you to kill Arashi?"

"You're nuts!" the man sneered. "That crazy street bum tried to kill him! I was one of his bodyguards!"

"Uh uh," Venus grinned. "We're not the press. We know different." She jiggled the end of the chain she was holding. "So what happened? They pay you? Threaten you? Do they have something on you? And just who is 'they'?"

"You're full of it, bimbo," Taguchi sneered.

"Oh, the magic words," Venus chuckled. She handed the end of the chain to Jupiter. "If you'd be so kind, Jupe?"

"Sparkling Wide Pressure," Jupiter announced, calmly and with a hint of disdain.

Electricity collected in her hand, then flew down the links of the chain. Taguchi was seized by a shuddering electrical jolt. He clenched for a few moments, grimacing in pain, then sagged when the current stopped.

"Now, lesson one," Venus said as if lecturing a child. "I am Sailor Venus, not 'bimbo'. That is Sailor Jupiter. And you are the prisoner. You tried to stick a knife in the Prime Minister's back and you're going to tell us why and who got you to do it? Right?"

Taguchi remained sullenly silent.

"Jupe?"

"Sparkling Wide Pressure."

More electricity shot down the links. Taguchi groaned in pain, his teeth clenched tight. His body shook from the fire the electricity was creating in his nerves. When the assault finally stopped, Taguchi sagged with exhaustion.

"You can't do this," he panted. "I've got rights."

"God, you sound just like some Yakuza thug!" sneered Venus. "The minute the police got rough with them, they started whining about their rights - - and always right in the middle of one of my sets! Well what about the rights of that poor guy who's taking the rap for you? What about the right Arashi-sama has to live? You don't care about those rights, so why should I care about yours?"

Taguchi stood his ground silently.

"Our boy's being stubborn, Jupe," Venus said. "Give him another taste."

The electricity shot down the chain and shook Taguchi like a rag doll. The thug tried to hold it in, but a strangled grunt of pain was dragged from his mouth. When the current stopped, Taguchi sat bent over, panting deeply.

"I'm not telling you anything," the man huffed. Jupiter knelt down next to Venus.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," she told her partner.

"Well, I told you we should have tried seducing him," Venus quipped. Jupiter gave her an acid look. "So what do you suggest? You're the expert on disciplining children, after all," and she gave Jupiter a sly look.

"Maybe Rei can use that mystic mojo of hers to see it," Jupiter shrugged.

"Worth a shot," Venus shrugged. She rose to full height, then tugged on the chain. "On your feet, Taguchi. We've got places to go."

"Where are you taking me?" he grunted sullenly.

"There you go again," Venus replied, cuffing him on the back of the head. "I ask the questions, not you."

The thug got up and Jupiter shoved him out the door while Venus held his tether. As they headed for the elevator, one of Taguchi's neighbors peered out her door curiously.

"What?" Venus asked as a challenge. "Can't a person take their dog for walkies without being stared at?" The neighbor quickly closed her door.

"Do you have to embarrass me everywhere we go?" Jupiter sighed.

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. A Perfect Heart

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 8: "A Perfect Heart"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Usagi sat at her drawing table, working on page six of part four of the penultimate chapter of "Love Witch". With the sudden departure of Himeko from the ranks of Happy Eskimos Studio, Usagi was forced to pencil the last two chapters of "Love Witch" as well as ink. It was only sixteen pages, but the assignment had come so suddenly that Usagi wasn't sure she would be able to do the job up to the standards of Himeko or Marie Baishaku.

And she missed the camaraderie of the studio. But first Mika had decided to work at home in order to care for her ailing mother. Then Himeko suddenly married Gon Shizumaku, a fellow manga artist noted for his horror work of all things, and apologetically quit the studio to work on a manga with her husband. Given the rents of the studio, Marie saw no reason to continue it and closed the office. Plus "Love Witch" was coming to a close and the combination couldn't help but make Usagi a little melancholy.

Suddenly, though, she had the sensation of being watched.

"Luna," the woman huffed, seeing the black cat perched on her taboret, "you know how much I hate people looking over my shoulder when I draw."

"Oh, pish tush," sniffed the cat regally. "It isn't as if I'm going to criticize your technique or the like."

"That'll be a first," Usagi grumbled.

"Um, you don't think the legs on that figure in panel five are a bit long?"

"LUNA!"

"I just thought I'd remind you that it is four-thirty," Luna continued undaunted.

"Yeah?"

"And supper is at seven," Luna prodded. "And you still only have soba noodles in the cupboard."

"Mamo-chan!" Usagi gasped. She leaped up out of her chair, her mechanical pencil clattering to the floor. "I've got to get something for dinner!" She clamored past the taboret, nearly knocking Luna off, and raced to the hall closet for her purse. "What'll I get?"

"How confident are you in your cooking?" Luna asked. Usagi grimaced.

"You're right. So, La Café Italian or The Golden Pagoda?"

"La Café Italian," Luna replied. "I despise Chinese food. Besides, I believe tonight is Veal Alfredo."

"OK, La Café Italian," Usagi nodded. "BUT NO VEAL! Even since you told me veal is baby cows, I refuse to even look at it!"

"As you wish," sighed Luna. "But something with meat in it, please. Cats cannot subsist on pasta alone."

"Right," Usagi said, slamming the door behind her. Moments later, she opened it again to free the straps of her purse, then closed it and hurried off. Luna just shook her head.

And outside, an observation drone moved to follow.

* * *

Rei knelt down on the mat inside the shrine. Across from her sat two fourteen year old girls. She recognized the uniforms as being from Crossroads Middle School and momentarily flashed back to when she would sit across a table from her friends when they wore similar uniforms. Then she dismissed the thoughts and resumed her focus on the girls before her. One had short-cropped black hair and a slightly chubby figure, but a cute face. The other had beautiful long black hair, but was thin and gangly and wore thick framed glasses.

"You have a bright future ahead of you in academics," Rei told the chubby girl. "But only if your dedication remains unwavering. Few things in the future are givens."

"Never mind about that, Sensei!" the girl said impatiently. "Do I have a chance with Kentaru Hondo?"

Just then, the door opened. Jupiter and Venus peered in with a strange man. Rei shot them an impatient glare.

"Whoops!" Jupiter grinned sheepishly. "We'll wait in the other room. Sorry."

Willing herself calm, Rei peered into the chubby girl's face and tried to divine along the line she wished. When the answer came, her heart sank.

"No," Rei whispered. "This person is forever beyond your grasp."

She saw the teen's face fall. That was the trouble with telling fortunes. Sometimes you had to tell people things they didn't want to hear. Then she reached out and grasped the girl's hand.

"Love will be yours, though," she cautioned the girl. "You just haven't met him yet."

The girl's face beamed. "T-Thank you, Sensei!" The girls then adjourned, frantically whispering to each other the way teenage girls did. Smiling to herself, Rei rose to her feet and padded into the other room.

"What's this?" she asked. Jupiter and Venus were on either side of a rough, stocky man. He was bound in a Love Me Chain and knelt like a prisoner between the two senshi.

"The guy who REALLY tried to kill Arashi," Venus explained. "Mercury tipped us off and we collected him." She gave him a small kick with the spike heel of her shoe. "But he's being stubborn and doesn't want to tell us who his playmates are."

"So we thought you might be able to get the information where we couldn't," Jupiter added.

Rei looked him over. Taguchi tried to put up a brave front, but the intense look in the priest's eyes was unnerving. She seemed like she was peering directly into his soul and reading every thought he had.

"Bring him outside, please," Rei said abruptly. She turned and headed for the door, expecting everyone to follow. Jupiter and Venus glanced curiously at each other, then hauled their prisoner up and shoved him outside. Rei was standing in the courtyard, about thirty feet from the small wooded area on the property's lot.

"Deimos. Phobos," she called out, extending her arms. "Attend me, please."

Obediently the two crows appeared from out of the trees. They perched on Rei's shoulders with practiced ease. This raised hackles not only on Taguchi, but on Jupiter and Venus as well, as crows were superstitious icons of death in Japanese lore. The priest approached them with an easy gait. Taguchi began to back away and Jupiter had to hold him in place. When she was about two feet from him, Rei stopped. Her gaze was even more intense now, and if that wasn't enough to intimidate him, both crows stared at him with almost the same intensity.

"Who commands you?" Rei asked.

Her tone was calm, but something about her words reverberated within the captive man's skull like thunder in the mountains. Even Jupiter and Venus could feel the effects. Jupiter caught herself before she whispered "Sailor Moon". Taguchi stared into the hypnotic violet eyes of this bewitchingly beautiful and yet frightening woman, her two crows perched upon her shoulders like harbingers of Armageddon, and wondered if he was about to breathe his last.

"I . . ." Taguchi began, then seemed to forget how to speak. For a moment, Jupiter and Venus thought he was going to go into cardiac arrest.

"Hiroki Tadano," Rei whispered as if she'd plucked the name from Taguchi's future.

"Who?" Venus asked.

"He's a political consultant," Rei informed them, slipping out of her trance. "He currently works independently, but was a former assistant to ex-Democratic Liberal Party Chairman Toguro."

"Interesting," smiled Venus. Taguchi sank to his knees.

"OK, we've got our next lead," Jupiter said. "So what do we do with him?"

Rei frowned. "I don't know. My father's the lawyer. I suppose I should ask his advice, as much as I hate to. We'll lock him in one of the shrine rooms until then." The priest thought a moment. "Although my father was also connected with Toguro politically. Maybe I'd better ask him a few other things first."

Jupiter hauled Taguchi up and the trio escorted him back to the shrine. Seeing they were headed for a building, Deimos and Phobos retreated for the trees.

"Did those crows really help you do that?" Jupiter asked.

"No, they're just for effect," Rei smiled. "You have to admit, it's a scary look."

"Showmanship! I love it!" laughed Venus. Rei winked at her. "Um, but I think you need to paper train them a little better."

Rei glanced at her shoulder, then whirled. "DEIMOS!"

"Don't sweat it, Hon'," Jupiter said, patting the priest on the back. "Akiko does it to me all the time. I know something that'll take it right out"

* * *

The low-slung Fiat slipped effortlessly out of traffic and pulled up against the curb. Haruka gave the woman on the curb a saucy grin. Though the driver's eyes were obscured by sunglasses, the woman could tell Haruka was giving her the once over and the driver's eyes were lingering on the perfect legs emerging from beneath her yellow skirt.

Outwardly neutral, Michiru smiled inwardly over the fact that her mate's passions could still be stirred by just the merest glimpse of her legs. She slid into the car with innate grace and they were off.

"Does the top have to be down?" Michiru asked as the car glided back into traffic. "It's a little chilly."

"Live dangerously," Haruka smiled, enjoying the wind whip through her short, sandy hair.

"I live with you, don't I?" smirked Michiru. "That's danger enough for one life."

"So where are we headed?" Haruka asked, changing the subject - - and keeping the top down on the car.

"A reporter friend of mine, at the newspaper. He's working on the bombing story and he told me he has some information on the police investigation."

"And he'll tell you?" asked Haruka.

"He's a big fan," Michiru said, pleased with herself.

"Of your violin or your art?"

"Yes."

"Is he smitten with you?" Haruka rumbled.

"Yes," Michiru said.

"Do you encourage it?"

"Maybe," she replied, acting the coquette. "Jealous?"

"Insanely," Haruka replied. Her left hand left the wheel and goosed Michiru. She jumped and let out a squeal.

"Then just remember this the next time you're flirting with our waitress in a restaurant!" Michiru admonished, her eyes bulging and her mouth trying to keep its scowl. That elicited that bad boy grin of Haruka's that sent Michiru's heart fluttering.

The pair pulled into the parking garage of the newspaper and headed up to the newsroom. They passed through a hive of phone calls, word processors humming with activity and scurrying people. Michiru approached a desk with a thin, smallish man with glasses, thinning hair and tired eyes. When he saw Michiru, his eyes lit up.

"Kaioh-San!" he exclaimed, standing up. "I'm glad you made it!"

"I'm grateful to you for sharing this information with us," Michiru smiled. "This is my mate, Haruka Tenoh."

"Yes," the reporter nodded, less glad to see Haruka. "You're the race car driver."

"So, the police have a suspect?" Michiru asked. "How did they find him so fast?"

"The police are good," he shrugged. "Forensics determined the bomb had a five minute delay timer on the detonator. Once they knew that, the detectives called up the tape on the traffic surveillance cameras and managed to get a shot of the guy leaving the firm at about the right time."

"You know his name?" Haruka asked.

"Kazuhiro Yamada," he replied. "My contact with the force says he's some sort of soldier of fortune type - - ex-mercenary, ex-bodyguard, even did a stint with the French Foreign Legion. Knows munitions from his army stint. They picked him up about an hour ago. Unfortunately it'll probably be on the television news shows before we can go to press with it. That's why I'm working a different angle."

"Any idea what his motive for the bombing might be? Did he have a grudge against the investment firm?" Michiru inquired.

"None," the reporter responded. "The police are looking into whether it was an insurance fraud gone wrong. But I don't think so. That's the angle I'm working. If I'm right, it'll blow those TV guys away."

"What do you think is his motive?"

"Oh it was for hire all right. That's the kind of person Yamada seems to be. He doesn't do anything unless it's for money. The question is who hired him? The police are checking the firm, but I have word that they're also checking a connection in his banking account that could lead to Kujawa Heavy Industries."

"They give somebody at Kujawa a bad stock tip?" Haruka puzzled.

"Who knows? They're still digging. So am I. Kujawa's been pressing the government for financial aid for its armaments line. Or maybe one of their management team was jilted by one of the stockbrokers. But someone at Kujawa is involved in this. I'm beginning to feel it."

"That was fascinating," beamed Michiru, trying to be as complimentary as possible without encouraging the man further. "If you hear anything else, I'd just love to hear it. In the meantime," and she reached into her purse, producing two tickets, "I'd just love it if you'd come to my concert next month. I promise I'll even dedicate a piece just for you." Michiru made sure to pucker her lips around the last syllable as she slid the tickets across the desk.

"T-Thank you, Kaioh-San!" the reporter gushed. Michiru turned and left, Haruka by her side. Haruka gave the man a last, passive look, almost like a territorial challenge.

"So now what?" Haruka asked as they left. "We stake out Kujawa until the wind or the water finger somebody?"

"That's what I was thinking," Michiru replied. "We may even beat the police to this - - or we may just be there to assist."

"I can think of worse things to do than be alone in a car with you all day," Haruka smirked.

"Mind on your work, Romeo," Michiru admonished.

As they passed the last desk, Haruka noticed the eyes of the reporter at the desk lingered on Michiru's bottom. Her hand came up and wrapped possessively around Michiru's waist, eliciting an amused expression from the green-tressed beauty.

* * *

Goro Haneda was the executive assistant to Hikaru Ishii. It was a prestigious position and the compensation was large. But the job also entailed making Hikaru Ishii's whims into reality, sometimes through hard work and long hours, and other times by at best unethical practices. He winced inwardly sometimes at what he had to do in the course of his duties, but capitalism was a cutthroat system and those with morals usually lost. And he liked his position and compensation package too much to lose it.

Those thoughts had comforted him in the past. But now, with the storm clouds of arrest and disgrace looming on his horizon, they were scant comfort. The executive pushed back his slicked back black hair and adjusted his black frame glasses before going in. Drawing on the fifteen years in the business for composure, Haneda greeted his boss's secretary and after a moment's consultation she buzzed him in.

"What's wrong, Haneda?" Ishii asked from behind his desk. "You seem upset with something."

"Sir," Haneda exhaled, "the police have the operative I hired to stage the 'terrorist incident'."

"How did they find him so quickly?" Ishii queried.

"He must have been careless. I think they've linked him here. Two detectives were just here questioning me. I'm not sure if our operative talked. I denied any knowledge of him, of course, but if they manage to find and trace the first payment to him . . .!"

"That's why you use cash transactions, Haneda," Ishii replied simply. "Paper is harder to trace than bank transactions."

"Sir, I'm beginning to think this was a mistake."

"Nonsense. Have you seen the news shows? Listened to the talk radio? The country is abuzz with talk about the new terrorist threat. People were already worked up about Korea and this just stirs the pot more. They're questioning the effectiveness of Prime Minister Arashi and his coalition. Arashi will have to start gearing up the country's military strength just to allay the public fear. And we'll be right there on the ground floor."

"But sir . . .!"

"Do you know I got word from Dr. Nishimoto just now?" Ishii continued. "He was able to complete the prototype for the M - 1 Hard Suit in record time. Once we release the publicity on this, coupled with current events . . ."

"Sir!" Haneda interjected. "What if a police investigation involves the company? If the payment is linked back to Kujawa, the resulting scandal might torpedo any possible success for the M-1 or anything else we produce!"

Ishii looked at him as if rising out of a dream state.

"Then you'll have to see that it doesn't involve the company," he told Haneda, "by any means necessary. Even if that means taking personal responsibility for this."

"Sir!" Haneda gasped. "This could lead to conspiracy to commit murder charges!"

"The company has a fleet of highly skilled attorneys. They can very easily negotiate any charges down to simple conspiracy at the most. You'd be looking at a fine and probation, possibly a year in prison worst case. Your family will be well-cared for during that time and you'd have a permanent position with this company waiting for you, with a very lucrative financial package." He looked at Haneda sharply. "Loyalty does have its rewards."

"Y-Yes, sir," Haneda whispered.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to meet with Dr. Nishimoto," Ishii chuckled like a child on Christmas Eve. "I want to see this company's gold mine for myself"

* * *

Dr. Mamoru Chiba was in the process of examining a forty-four year old dock laborer. The man was in the hospital with a back injury that x-rays had revealed were the result of two bulging disks in his lower lumbar region. As he explained the problem to the squat, burly man and his recommendation for surgery to relieve the problem versus prolonged rest and treatment with drugs, he wrote out instructions on the patient's chart for the nursing staff concerning his care. A nurse waited for him to finish so she could start giving the patient his medicine.

Suddenly Mamoru's pen clattered to the floor. The nurse looked up curiously at the tall, handsome doctor. She found him pale as a sheet and staring off into space as if he'd just witnessed his own death.

"Dr. Chiba?" she inquired.

"Usako," he whispered fearfully.

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. Betrayal

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 9: "Betrayal"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Rei Hino, dressed in a matching navy jacket and tight knee length skirt and heels over a pink pastel blouse, marched up to the secretary in her father's office in the Diet. Looking every bit the professional woman in her ensemble and turning heads with her striking image, she managed to get right up to the desk before the woman recognized her as Dietman Hino's daughter. The secretary's stomach dropped with anxiety. Whenever Dietman Hino's daughter came by, things inevitably degenerated into a heated shouting match between the Dietman and his daughter. But she forced on a pleasant smile to greet the woman as she mentally inventoried how many aspirin she had in her purse.

"I need to see my father, please," Rei requested. Her tone was restrained, which was a good sign. Usually she was either hesitant or seething.

"I'm sorry, he's in conference right now," the secretary replied. Rei looked at her with that unnerving stare the woman had. In the past, when she'd given Rei an excuse at the Dietman's behest, Rei always seemed to know it was an excuse. This time, after a moment, Rei nodded, which seemed to further unnerve her.

"May I wait?" Rei asked.

"If you'd like. I don't know how long he's going to be."

"That's fine," Rei said and took a seat.

Forty-four minutes later, the door opened to Hino's office. Out of the office came an older man in a dark suit, giving off vibes of power and prestige. Rei looked at him as he passed. He seemed deep in thought, slightly confused, as if he'd just been handed something unexpected and he was mentally looking for the string attached. Then she recognized the man. He was Prime Minister Arashi.

"Miss Hino," the secretary prompted and shook Rei from her concentration. The woman was on the phone. "The Dietman will see you now. Please be brief. He has a DLP meeting at five." Rei glanced at the clock and saw it said 4:42. Anxiously she entered the office.

"Come in, Rei," Hino said. He sat behind an overly ornate desk framed by law volumes. Her father was guarded as he usually was around people, particularly her, but he seemed too preoccupied with other things to recall their typical animosity. "I was just about to call you. I've got some more information for you."

He started to speak, then stopped. Rei observed that he was genuinely reluctant to say what he intended, that the news tortured his soul. It was an emotion she didn't think him capable of. Finally, he summoned his strength and became the father she'd always known.

"This isn't easy for me to say," he admitted reluctantly, loathe to show weakness. "I've come across information on the plot to assassinate the Prime Minister . . ."

"His name is Seita Taguchi," Rei told him flatly. "He was hired by Hiroki Tadano, possibly under orders from ex-DLP Chairman Toguro."

"How . . .?"

"Jupiter and Venus picked him up about two hours ago after Mercury identified him. I interrogated him a little over an hour ago. He's locked up at Hikawa Shrine this very minute."

Hino's hand went to his head. He rested on his elbow for a moment while he digested this, then brought his hand up through his slick, thick black hair as he released a sigh of fatigue. Rei could see this was not welcome news. She could also see it wasn't unexpected.

"I was afraid of this," Hino whispered. "I prayed I was wrong."

"Political setback?" Rei asked pointedly.

"Toguro-San was my mentor!" her father replied sharply. "It was through him that I'm where I am today. I'd hoped this wasn't possible. I'd hoped - - but obviously the need burned too intensely within him."

"What need?"

"For revenge," Hino answered. "Toguro-San was very bitter about being toppled from the Diet by Arashi. Apparently that bitterness overwhelmed his better judgment." He sighed again in frustration. "It was a stupid thing to do. He's only made it worse for himself, even if he escapes jail time."

Sensing truth from her father, Rei put her suspicions aside.

"How will this affect you?" Rei asked. "You were his protege."

"I've already seen to that," Hino frowned. "Before you came, I was meeting with Arashi. I turned over everything I knew to him. Practically handed Toguro to him on a platter. Now that you have the actual assassin, I'll phone the National Security Force and have him picked up. That should just about seal things tight - - and should distance me from Toguro-San even more. And, in the public's eyes, I'll be seen as a man who puts the public trust above partisan politics. It'll be a good plank to run on in the future."

"I should have known you'd think of your career first," Rei sneered.

"I did what was right," Hino replied. "What's right for the nation and what's morally right." Then he shrugged. "If I happen to benefit politically from it, so much the better."

Scowling, Rei turned and left.

* * *

Mamoru tore down the streets of Tokyo, weaving in and out of traffic like a man insane. The safety of his car was of no importance, nor was what explanation he might have to come up with for leaving work with over an hour left in his shift. The safety of the other people on the road registered dimly, fighting for attention with the primary concern on his mind: getting to his wife in time.

He'd felt her distress explode in the back of his brain like a blow from a hammer. The urgency of it still resonated. She was in pain and she was scared. And that was all he needed to know.

The car careened around a corner, then barreled down the street. Passers-by and drivers pointed, stared and shouted angrily after him. It didn't matter. He'd always wondered what he would do if he got that feeling during working hours. Now he knew.

Now he just had to get there in time.

* * *

Ami walked into Ryo Urawa's Intensive Care Unit room to find Dr. Yamamura there. He glanced at her and nodded when she entered.

"Glad you managed to pry yourself away from his side long enough to get a hot meal and a change of scenery," Yamamura needled. "People were beginning to talk."

"How is he?" Ami asked, the fatigue of the situation beginning to show.

"Well, the sutures are holding," Yamamura reported. "BP and respiration are nominal, but not as strong as I'd like. His kidney functions are down slightly and I'm hoping that's not a sign of infection. If only he hadn't been in such poor shape before the shooting, he might not be having so hard a time now. I guess right now it's up to him. All I can do is keep pumping him with fluids and proteins and keep an eye out for signs of infection."

Ami remained silent, but Dr. Yamamura could see she, as a fellow professional, knew the implications that were staring her in the face.

"Don't underestimate will to live, Mizuno," he told her. "It can move mountains sometimes. And I've seen the way he looks at you. The longer you're here, the more will to live he'll have." He smiled when he saw Ami's cheeks color. "You on shift soon?"

"No," Ami sighed. "I'm off seventy-two," meaning she had three straight days off.

"Good. You could probably use the break. Just try not to spend the whole time here. The food's lousy."

"Yes, Doctor," Ami smiled.

"Please, Yamamura - - or Gon, if you like. Any friend of Chiba's is a friend of mine. Besides, I want to be able to say I knew Doctor Wonder Girl when she was just an intern." He gave her a cocky wink and strolled out. "Oh, and remind Chiba that he still owes me a bottle of saki."

Ami settled into the chair next to Ryo's bed. She glanced up at the vital sign monitor. It still wasn't as healthy as she'd hoped.

Ryo opened his eyes. He found Ami sitting by his bedside, just as she had been when he fell asleep.

"Was I out very long?" he asked.

"A few hours," Ami replied.

"You haven't been waiting here that whole time, have you?"

"Don't worry about me," Ami told him. "If I have someplace else to go, I'll go there."

Ryo smiled weakly. "Yes, Doctor. I have to admit, it is nice waking up to your face."

Ami felt her cheeks coloring. "You've gotten a little more bold than what I recall."

Ryo sighed. "A lot of my shyness was - - not wanting to get too close to someone."

"In case you saw something terrible?"

The man averted his eyes.

"I can only imagine how hard it was for you." Ami thought silently for a moment. "Perhaps," she began cautiously, "when you're better, I can try to find some way to - - to silence the visions." Ami searched his face for reaction. "So you can lead a more normal life."

"Do you think that's possible?" Ryo whispered.

"I do. So many things that I felt before were impossible are now things I know to be possible. I know so much more now than when you knew me last. And if I can't find something, perhaps Rei or Sailor Pluto might know of something. And of course there's Usagi. Time and again she's made the impossible happen just by believing hard enough." Ami gazed intently at Ryo. "But it's your decision."

"I would give anything to be free of these visions," Ryo exhaled. "I don't know if you can possibly succeed, Ami. That's ironic; me not knowing something that's coming. If anyone could do it, it would be you." Ryo reached out weakly and Ami grasped his hand. They both seemed grateful for the intimate contact. He seemed to grow introspective for a moment, then was seized with alarm. "What time is it?"

"Um," Ami answered, glancing at her watch. "Four forty-nine pm."

"Usagi needs you," he told her with the clarity of vision of someone who had actually seen what had happened. "She's at the Kujawa Heavy Industries complex - - Plant C, Lab 2."

Instantly Ami got up to leave, because she believed Ryo unwaveringly. Then she stopped and turned back to him. The woman was clearly torn over whether to leave and they both knew why.

"I'll be here when you get back," Ryo reassured her. "I guarantee it."

"You saw it?" Ami asked, needing reassurance.

"Yes," he smiled weakly. "Do your duty."

Forced to believe him, Ami raced out of the ICU and down the hall, headed for the parking garage.

* * *

Haruka took a sip from the can of juice, then set it down in the basket sitting between the two front seats in her blue Fiat. Knowing they might be there a while, Michiru had packed a basket of food and drinks for them. She had rationed herself to one sandwich and a bottled water during the stake-out that was now entering its third hour. Haruka, on the other hand, seemed to be constantly nibbling on something. Her mate's hand slithered back into the basket and Michiru's eyes narrowed.

"You're going to get fat nibbling like that," she warned her mate.

"That just means there'll be more of me to love," Haruka smirked.

"You're assuming I'll love you when you're fat," Michiru countered with a smirk of her own.

"I can't help it. I get bored just sitting here. You remember what it was like when we were staking out heart crystal victims. I've got to do something with my hands." She leered at Michiru. "And you won't let me do THAT."

"One of us has to stay focused," Michiru replied, recalling with a glint in her eye the memory of those days.

"I wish you'd brought potato chips," Haruka scowled.

"Potato chips are disgusting," Michiru fussed while she kept watch on the Kujawa Plant. "It's like eating flavored grease. That's the trouble with when you race in America - - you pick up too many bad habits."

"I thought you didn't like it because I pick up too many bad girls there," Haruka joked. Michiru shot him a playful grin, but her eyes contained a warning that Haruka was skating on thin ice.

A shadow passed over the car's windshield and caught their attention. Peering up into the fall sky, they each saw an object flying over them descending toward the plant. Michiru studied it intently as it neared the grounds.

"Is that some sort of plane?" she asked.

"Too small," Haruka noted with her authority on all things mechanical. "Looks vaguely human size. Almost like some sort of mobile armor suit or small robot."

"That sounds like something out of an anime," Michiru mused.

"So does a mad scientist making daimons in his oven," her mate countered. "Should we go in and check it out?"

"On what grounds?" the artist asked. "If it's just some experimental tech they're putting through some trial run, we'd be tipping our hand by rushing in there. Still, I would like to get a closer look at that."

Pondering for a moment, Michiru decided and extended her hand. Her henshin stick materialized and seconds later Sailor Neptune sat in the car. Her hand remained extended and the Deep Aqua Mirror materialized next. Wordlessly, she passed her hand over the glass. As Haruka looked on, Sailor Neptune studied what only she could see in the glass.

A sound caught Haruka's ears. She turned and saw an older model crimson sports car, much like the one she knew Mamoru drove, pull up to the plant gate in a big hurry. Bounding out of the car was Tuxedo Mask. As Tuxedo Mask blew past the guard at the gate and leaped over the fence, Haruka's hand closed around Neptune's wrist.

A few minutes earlier, inside the fence around Kujawa Plant C, Lab 2, Dr. Nishimoto stood staring up into the sky as if he were waiting for something. His anxiousness was soon rewarded by the sight of his Mobile Armor appearing in the west sky headed for the plant. The gleaming brass-colored armor reflected the sun and almost seemed to sparkle with verve and energy. So intent was he on his arriving creation that Nishimoto didn't hear the approach of another.

"More tests, Dr. Nishimoto?" Hikaru Ishii asked. Nishimoto gave him a cursory glance and noted that Ishii seemed as superior and condescending as ever. Then Ishii spotted what was approaching and lost some of his superior attitude. "Isn't that the Mobile Armor prototype? Should you be testing it so - - publicly?"

"I thought the idea was to impress people," Nishimoto said, unable to fully conceal his glee.

"You should have told me," Ishii sputtered. "Financing isn't set yet. We're still trying to get the Diet to vote. If our competitors get wind of this . . ."

"It won't matter," Nishimoto replied. "I doubt anyone could manage to duplicate this, anyway. Nobody has ever managed to duplicate anything I've ever created." He glanced back at Ishii. "They only manage to exploit it."

The Mobile Armor fired its heel thrusters and achieved a soft landing in the center of the lot. Nishimoto ran up to it, Ishii on his heels. When he caught up, he found Nishimoto caressing the armor like it was his child. The grin on Nishimoto's face, though, seemed anything but paternal.

"Still, I really wish you'd consulted me on this, Doctor," Ishii persisted. "Public tests like this can leak out. Premature publicity, if not handled correctly, could sabotage our efforts in the Diet. Without proper funding, this entire project could be torpedoed."

But Nishimoto wasn't listening. Frustrated, Ishii came closer. That's when he saw a pair of terrified eyes in the armor's view plate.

"There's a pilot in there?" Ishii gasped. "I didn't authorize this! What if something had gone wrong? The insurance costs alone . . .!"

"She's not a pilot!" Nishimoto snapped. Clearly he was tiring of Ishii snapping at his heels. "The Mobile Armor is so sophisticated that it doesn't need a human pilot! She's a power source!"

"What?"

"And this isn't a prototype," Nishimoto said, whirling on Ishii with a look of triumph because he'd duped the financier for a change instead of being duped. "It's a master unit! It's capable of controlling a thousand, a million server units just like it! It broadcasts power to them,  
then it broadcasts control commands, processing what each and every one of them sees and hears! One single person can use this unit to sit back and control battlefields and sorties around the globe! Armies would become obsolete! Generals would become unnecessary!" Nishimoto stopped and stared out at nothing, as if making a realization for the first time. "One man could control everything. All he'd need is enough units."

"Nishimoto, this is crazy!" Ishii gasped. "This isn't what we agreed on!"

"But something on this scale," Nishimoto whirled on him, ignoring his protests, "would need a power source greater than anything humanity has ever developed! Greater than anything! I knew that! I searched for it, and I found it! I have it! The greatest single source of power in the known universe!"

The engineer whirled and pointed at the Mobile Armor and the terrified eyes visible in the view plate.

"SAILOR MOON!"

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. March Of The Mobile Armor

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 10: "March of the Mobile Armor"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Ami was in the hospital elevator headed for the underground parking garage. Alone in the car, she went to engage her wristwatch senshi communicator when a message buzzed in on it.

"This is Ami," she answered.

"This is Rei!" came the voice on the other end. "I just got a gigantic sense of distress from Usagi!"

"I already know about it!" Ami told her. "I'm en route now! I'll call Makoto! You get hold of Minako!"

"Where is she? Do you know?"

"Kujawa Heavy Industries, Plant C, Lab 2!" The elevator car came to the selected floor and opened. Ami raced out. "How badly is she in distress?"

"It's bad!" Rei almost sobbed. Ami swallowed.

"Understood. Ami out." She paused at the door of her car long enough to send a communication to Makoto.

* * *

"Sailor Moon is the power source?" Hikaru Ishii gasped.

"Of course," Dr. Nishimoto exhaled, staring up at the gleaming Mobile Armor and the terrified blue eyes staring back at him through the armor's view plate. "Have you ever stopped to gauge the power signature Sailor Moon gives off? What do you think could possibly power this armor suit and make it capable of everything in its specifications? No power source known to humanity could begin to achieve such demands, not even nuclear power. And this is so much safer. There's no spent waste, no radiation, no fuel costs of any kind." He grinned in triumph. "She's perfect."

"Dr. Nishimoto," Ishii said with very precise finality, trying to break through the engineer's euphoria, "do you realize what you've done?" Nishimoto turned to him, scowling. "The litigation tied to this act could bankrupt this corporation. I will not have this company put at risk by your - - delusions of grandeur."

"Delusions?" Nishimoto replied with distaste.

"Disengage this device immediately," Ishii demanded.

"Getting cold feet?" Nishimoto asked. "Or are you terrified of something you can't control?"

"Nishimoto," Ishii began, trying to reassert authority over the situation, "I can appreciate risk. You can't compete in this market without the occasional bold move. I'm not above skirting the law either, if the reward is worth it. That's part of being a visionary. I realize you're a visionary in your chosen field. This armor suit is proof of that. But sales and finance is MY field of expertise. And I'm telling you right now that this will never fly with either the government or the buying public . . ."

Ishii's words were cut off. The Mobile Suit moved suddenly, without any effort on Dr. Nishimoto's behalf. It's right arm shot out, seized Ishii around the throat and hoisted him up effortlessly into the air. The executive dangled three feet off of the pavement, his arms and legs flailing wildly to find some sort of support. He looked down at Nishimoto, praying that the engineer was trying to reign in the seven foot metallic armor suit that was choking the life out of him. But to his horror he found Nishimoto merely looking up at him in silent triumph. It was then he knew that Nishimoto could control the armor mentally and had initiated the action himself.

"I don't care what the government or the buying public want," Nishimoto said, clearly and carefully, as if talking to an imbecile. "This was never about you. I used you to get my armor suit built, just like you were planning to use me to get a new product to sell and then cut me out of it - - just like everyone else has. This armor suit and your facility are now going to produce more suits until I have enough to make sure that the world unfolds the way I want it. Then I'll get the respect due to me. As for you - - I'm terminating our working agreement as of this moment."

The armor suit closed its hand. Hideki Ishii's head burst like a tomato. And inside the armor suit, Usagi began to cry.

* * *

A sound caught Haruka's ears. She turned and saw an older model crimson sports car,much like the one she knew Mamoru drove, pull up to the plant gate in a big hurry. Bounding out of the car was Tuxedo Mask. As Tuxedo Mask blew past the guard at the gate and leaped over the fence, Haruka's hand closed around Neptune's wrist.

"Something's going down," Haruka said in a low voice. She pointed Neptune's gaze toward Tuxedo Mask clearing the security fence around Plant C.

"Why is he here?" Neptune wondered.

"I don't know, but I hope he doesn't spoil our stakeout."

Haruka glanced over at Neptune and found her staring into the mirror again. That was Neptune. She didn't like acting unless she knew her actions would accomplish the goal she set out after. The skirmishes of other people were distractions she refused to give in to. They could fight amongst themselves.

"Apparently it's over that craft we spotted," Neptune reported. "It looks like some sort of armor suit. Tuxedo Mask is charging it." Air suddenly hissed in through Neptune's clenched teeth. "Usagi's in that thing!"

That was all Haruka needed to hear. Her henshin stick was out and active. Moments later Sailor Uranus was out of the Fiat and barreling across the street toward the plant. Neptune stayed put long enough to see through her mirror that Usagi wasn't a willing occupant of the armored suit and was out of the car in pursuit.

"Stop there!" shouted the security guard. He stood in front of the gate, directly in the path of the charging Uranus.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY OR GET MOWN DOWN!" Uranus roared.

She didn't waste energy on a second warning. Her hand went up in the air.

"WORLD SHAKING!"

Geo-force collected in her hand until she had enough to act. Then Uranus pitched the ball at the fence. Tearing up asphalt and concrete as it sped along the pavement, the attack rammed the gate and sundered it, broken steel and chain-link rattling away. The guard, who had retreated at the first sign of the attack, watched Uranus storm past him. He dove into his guard house and was on the phone to main security when he saw Sailor Neptune whiz past, desperately trying to catch up with the speedier Uranus.

"Uranus!" Neptune called ahead to her partner. "Usagi's a prisoner in that mobile armor! It's using her energy to power itself!"

Uranus turned a corner, then skidded to a stop. Moments later, Neptune caught up with her. She found the armor holding Tuxedo Mask up in the air as if he were a doll, ready to deliver a blow that would surely injure him. Another body lay limp and unmoving on the ground while a third, a spindly, hawk-like troll of a man turned and glared at them.

"Sailor Senshi!" the man exclaimed, almost anticipating a conflict. "The latest test for my Mobile Armor!"

Seized by the man's unspoken thought, the armor dropped Tuxedo Mask and advanced on Uranus and Neptune.

"Neptune, what do we do?" Uranus whispered. Neptune noted the uncharacteristic anxiety in her partner's voice.

"We disable it," Neptune replied firmly. Uranus glanced at her in disbelief. "It's the only way to get Usagi out of there. Step aside. I'll do it." Her hands raised into the air. "Deep Submerge!"

A cascading wave rose up from nowhere and inundated the armor suit. Neptune hoped to pull the suit off its feet and either short out the electronics or batter it against a wall and damage the circuitry that way - - hopefully without harming Usagi.

But if stopping it meant hurting her, it was an acceptable casualty.

However, the suit burst out of the wave undeterred by Neptune's attack, not even slowed. It bore down on the two senshi until Uranus was finally forced to act.

"World Shaking!" she roared and pitched another force bomb at the oncoming suit.

The attack struck the armor head on. It fell back a pace, momentarily stopped by the huge geo-force energy. Then it resumed its charge, lunging for the pair of senshi. At the last moment, Uranus and Neptune leaped out of the armor's grasp, landing so they bracketed it.

"Uranus!" Neptune called. "See if your Space Sword can carve her out of that thing! Once it's separated from Usagi, it has no power source!"

Uranus nodded and extended her hand into the air. The Space Sword appeared even as the Mobile Armor turned toward Uranus and charged at terrific speed.

"Space Sword Blaster!" Uranus called out. Swinging the sword, Uranus shot deadly energy arcs out at the charging armor. The arcs were angled so that they would shear the armor from Usagi without hurting her - - it was hoped. But the energy arcs glanced off of the metallic hide of the armor and exploded into the asphalt pavement of the testing grounds. Both Uranus and Neptune realized that the armor would be on top of Uranus more quickly than anticipated. Neptune again summoned the mirror.

"Submarine Reflection!" she shouted anxiously.

Pointing the mirror, Neptune guided the deadly energy beam directly at the armor. The force of impact staggered the suit and allowed Uranus to dive away. But though the beam was having an effect on the armor, it wasn't penetrating it.

"That metal alloy is too tough," Neptune thought. "Perhaps if I aim it at the joints - - those have to be weaker areas."

Shifting the beam, Neptune struck at the armor's knee joint. The armor's leg gave way and it tumbled to the pavement on all fours.

"NO!" screamed Tuxedo Mask, still on the ground. He had been in pain before, but now seemed in agony. "You're hurting her!"

That frantic cry led to a moment's indecision on the part of Sailor Neptune. And in that second, the armor clasped its hands and brought them down on the pavement with such force that a shockwave kicked up. Before she could react, Neptune was struck by the shockwave and pitched back. She landed hard and took a moment to recover.

In that time, the Mobile Armor picked up Dr. Nishimoto and sprinted toward Lab 2. Groggy, Neptune heard Uranus use the Space Sword again. Moments later, she felt Uranus hoisting her up to her feet.

"Are you hurt?" Uranus asked. Neptune tried to shake off the cobwebs.

"Stunned me," Neptune replied. "Where did it go?"

"Into that lab," Uranus told her, pointing to Lab 2. "I tried to follow, but it's barricaded in. Has to be the same stuff that armor's made of. What now?"

"I don't know," Neptune admitted. "But we've got to find a way to stop that thing. If it's drawing on Usagi for its energy, then it could have limitless power."

Outside of the plant, police and plant security forces were huddled. Frantic communications were going back and forth between headquarters and the police command post, as well as security and company management. A squad of officers were venturing into the plant with shields and riot gear, while other officers were pouring over the red sports car that had been identified as the one carrying Tuxedo Mask. Three helicopters hovered overhead. One was a police craft, while the other two belonged to television news departments. Satellite trucks were setting up at the perimeter to feed this news to Tokyo and possibly the world.

Without warning a Toyota mid-size pulled up at the perimeter. That attracted attention. What kept everyone's attention was the sight of four Sailor Senshi emerging from the Toyota. The reporter from the nearest truck sprinted toward them.

"Can you tell us what's going on?" the reporter asked.

"Not now," Sailor Venus said, waving the reporter and camera off. It was one of the hardest things she'd ever done. The others moved toward the plant gate. Several officers moved to intercept them.

"Get out of the way!" Jupiter roared.

"Stop! You can't go in there! This is a police perimeter!" countered the officer in charge.

"I SAID GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Jupiter bellowed angrily. She seized the officer by the top of his flak vest and tossed him aside like a rag doll. Seeing that and the smoldering eyes and hands of Sailor Mars convinced the others to back away.

"Jupiter, was that necessary?" Mercury gently chided her as they passed through the gate at top speed.

"Usagi's in trouble," Jupiter replied curtly, her demeanor grim and focused. "I'll do penance later."

They turned the corner of a building and found the battleground. Mercury spotted the body instantly. Jupiter saw Tuxedo Mask pounding with his walking stick on a metallic barrier erected over a gaping hole in the side of one of the buildings. Each blow did nothing to the gleaming metal, but Tuxedo Mask continued with dogged persistence. Mars ventured up to him, while Venus slid over to Uranus and Neptune as they watched Tuxedo Mask's futile efforts.

"What's the deal here?" Venus asked them. "Where's Usagi?"

"In there," Neptune related, pointing to the building. "She's been captured and placed in some sort of mobile armor suit. The suit is using her as a power source. It's tremendously strong and agile, and made of that metal alloy. It resisted all of our attacks."

"What's it doing in there?" Venus inquired.

"Reproducing," Uranus replied through clenched teeth. That drew a surprised look from Venus.

"I think the more accurate word would be 'replicating itself'," Neptune added. "The suit's controlled by a human. He seems to be one of the employees here. If we can get to that armor suit and somehow separate Usagi from it, the suit will go inert. The problem so far has been separating her from that suit."

Tuxedo Mask felt a hand on his shoulder and halted another swing at the barrier. He turned and found Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars.

"That's not doing any good," Jupiter told him. "How about I give it a shot?"

He didn't want to surrender his place. He didn't want to admit that he couldn't get to her, that he couldn't protect her. But cold reality won out over desire. His shoulders slumped,Tuxedo Mask gave ground and let Jupiter step in.

"Jupiter!" she snapped, her hand splayed at her side. "Oak Evolution!"

The barrier became alive with explosive electrical bursts. The force of the energy sizzled on the surface of the metal and it shook with the concussive force of the bursts. When it dissipated, though, the barrier stood in place. There was singeing on the metal in places, but it stood intact.

"Mars!" Sailor Mars shouted, not waiting for permission. "Flame Sniper!"

The fiery bow formed in her hand and, with a calm detachment at odds with her demeanor moments ago, Mars let loose an arrow of flame at the barrier. The arrow impacted, but flattened out and dissipated without harm to the metal.

"What is this thing made of?" Venus goggled. Mercury had her visor out and was studying it.

"I'm not done yet!" Mars snarled, her eyes ablaze and an eerie determination about her. "MARS SNAKE FIRE!"

Instantly Mars' entire body burst into flame. Jupiter and Tuxedo Mask fell back while gasps of awe rose from those watching. She burned bright red and orange for about fifteen seconds. Then a shape seemed to form from the crackling flames. The fire formed into a giant serpent rising up from Mars. It loomed over the barrier, poised to strike. The serpent opened its mouth, displaying six foot flaming fangs, then struck with the speed of thought.

Like the arrow, though, the serpent flattened out on impact with the barrier, spread, then dissipated. The asphalt in front of the barrier was molten. The cinder blocks that had once formed the wall the barrier hid behind were now ash. There was an ugly black scorch mark on the barrier itself. But it held. Mercury knelt next to Mars, who was on one knee and panting.

"Are you . . .?" Mercury began.

"Just winded," Mars gasped.

"You been holding out on us?" Venus asked.

"Just seemed - - to come to me," Mars related. "Like when my other attacks first appeared. Please tell me it did some good."

"Structural integrity of the barrier is down to seventy-eight percent at the point of impact," Mercury told her.

"Four more of those attacks and we'll be in," quipped Venus. "Got anymore left?"

Mars replied with a grunt of frustration.

"Then we'll have to do the rest," Neptune said. "Mars has dented that thing. Between the rest of us, we should be able to break through."

"That may not be necessary," Mercury announced.

"You got an idea?" Jupiter asked, daring to hope. "Tell me you've got an idea."

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" Mercury suddenly said. She coated the impact point with a coat of shimmering ice. "Subjecting metals to extremes of heat and cold in succession weakens the molecular bonding of the metal and makes it brittle. Brittle metal is more susceptible . . ."

"We get it," Venus said, moving to the front. "Venus! Love and Beauty Shock!"

The shockwave slammed against the barrier. The impact shook the area like an earthquake. Yet the barrier still held.

"Merc?" Venus asked.

"My scans show structural integrity is down to thirty-nine percent," Mercury reported.

"Then one more good pop should do it," Venus grinned. "Uranus, how about we give it a double shot?"

"Ready when you are," Uranus nodded.

"Venus! Love and Beauty Shock!"

"World Shaking!"

The geo-force bubble and the shockwave linked up and slammed into the barrier. The resulting explosion shook the area and all the senshi staggered back, with Mars tipping and falling down. When the dust cleared a gaping wound lay in the metal barrier.

"That's our opening!" Venus yelled, bounding forward with Jupiter and Uranus. "Move!"

The senshi sprinted inside. They found a roboticized engineering lab. Dr. Nishimoto and the armor suit were busy constructing another armor suit. Nishimoto was glaring at them with frustrated menace.

"They must not stop us!" roared Nishimoto. "Kill them all!"

The armor suit moved to intercept them. Each senshi could see Usagi's horrified face in the suit's view plate.

Continued in Chapter 11


	11. A Bright Future

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 11: "A Bright Future"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

The menacing seven foot armor suit advanced on the six senshi with murderous intent. Inside the armor, visible through the helmet viewplate, Usagi shrieked in horror, her screams muted by the thick face shield. Reflexively the senshi crouched, privately amazed at the speed of the hulking monstrosity.

"Fan out!" Venus yelled, taking charge as she often did when Sailor Moon was unavailable or incapacitated. "Don't give it any easy targets!"

Instantly the senshi spread out, surrounding the armor suit. The metal monster stopped its advance, unsure of who to attack first. That gave Neptune the opening she was looking for.

"Submarine Reflection!" Neptune snapped, the Deep Aqua Mirror extended from her body and aimed directly at the armor suit. A deep crimson beam of light energy shot out from the mirror's face and struck the armor suit dead on. The suit staggered back, clearly affected by the beam. But inside the viewplate, the others could see Usagi howling in agony.

"The beam is hurting Usagi!" Mercury cried. "That armor is doing more than engaging in a symbiotic energy transference! It's connected to her bionically!"

And Neptune continued to attack.

"Give me that!" snarled Jupiter, wrestling the mirror out of Neptune's hands. Instantly, Uranus was by Neptune's side, ready to defend her against anyone. "Didn't you hear? You're hurting her! Or don't you care?"

"I care about getting her out of that suit!" Neptune fired back with controlled annoyance. "Do you have a better way? My beam is the only thing that affects it so far!"

Jupiter didn't get a chance to answer. The armor suit barreled into the trio and scattered them like bowling pins. Uranus and Jupiter tumbled off to the sides and the Deep Aqua Mirror skittered along the floor to the far wall. Neptune struggled to regain her wits, then realized the armor suit was looming over her, poised to strike.

"WORLD SHAKING!"

The armor suit was struck by the attack from Sailor Uranus head on. The impact blew the armor suit out the gap in the shield and out into the open area behind the lab. Neptune looked back to Uranus, surprised by the vehemence of the attack, and saw her lover's desperate glare. She smiled gratefully at Uranus. Just then Venus sprinted past Neptune and out the gap in pursuit of the armor suit. Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter scrambled to their feet to join her.

Outside, a news helicopter hovered overhead, taking live video of the scene. Jupiter emerged just in time to see Venus nimbly dodge a swing from the armor suit and roll away. She saw that the suit was leaning to pursue her, though.

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter called out and cast another massive lightning bolt at the armor suit. She took care, though, to aim in front of the suit rather than at it, trying to herd it away from Venus instead of attacking it head on. Jupiter was still conscious of the fact that Usagi was in the suit and affected by their attacks.

"Venus Love Me Chain!" Venus shouted quickly.

Her Love Me Chain shot out across the distance between them and wrapped around the armor suit, pinning the suit's upper limbs to its torso. Neptune and Uranus joined Jupiter as the armor struggled to pull free of Venus.

"Anybody!" Venus shouted. "I don't know how long I can hold it!" Neptune looked to Jupiter, silently telling her that she would attack if Jupiter didn't.

"Maybe I can short out its electronics!" Jupiter answered Again energy began to crackle around the lightning rod extended from her tiara, and then around Jupiter. The air in the general vicinity began to super-heat. "Supreme Thunder!"

Electricity filled Jupiter's body, then leaped out hungrily at the armor suit. The electricity enveloped the suit, still struggling in the Venus chain. However, Jupiter's lightning didn't seem to affect the suit at all.

"It must have a non-conductive coating!" Mercury said as she watched from inside, echoing the disappointment on Jupiter's face. Then she whirled and looked at Dr. Nishimoto,standing off to the side and watching with proud glee. "Of course! I've been neglecting all the elements of this scenario! Mercury! Aqua Rhapsody!"

The attack sped toward Dr. Nishimoto, a huge wave of water that would freeze on impact with him. But it seemed to hit an energy barrier just in front of him. The wave froze against the barrier, then fell away while Dr. Nishimoto was unharmed.

"I thought of that!" Nishimoto crowed. "The Mobile Suit broadcasts some of its power to this belt I'm wearing! It produces a localized energy deflector screen! You can't touch me unless I choose to allow it!"

Mars looked at Mercury and saw her nodding, intent and concentrating, much the way she did during a chess match when one of her stratagems had been countered. Maybe her opponent needed a little distraction.

"Mars!" Mars called out, her flaming bow forming again. "Flame Sniper!"

The arrow shot across the room and impacted with the deflector screen. It dissipated without penetrating. She was about to shoot another flaming arrow when a thud caught everybody's attention - - except Mercury, who had her computer out and working.

The armor suit was still snared in the Venus chain. Tuxedo Mask had come out of nowhere and landed on the suit's back, digging his gloved fingers into the seam between the suit's helmet and torso armor. Uranus saw he was trying to rip the helmet off of the armor suit with brute strength. Once it was off, Usagi could possibly be pulled from the armor. Venus saw this, too, and hung on to her chain with all her strength. Jupiter quickly joined her and together they held it in place while the armor tried to shake Tuxedo Mask from its back. And inside the suit they could see Usagi desperately crying out "Mamo-chan! Mamo-chan!"

Uranus lunged forward, the Space Sword appearing in her hand. The cutlass pivoted in her hand as she charged the armor suit. When she was in striking distance, Uranus swung the back of the blade across the back of the armor suit's legs, hoping to force the suit to its knees. But the blow only staggered the armor suit. Undaunted, Uranus hooded her foot across the ankle of the armor suit as it staggered forward. That sent the suit to its knees, though the suit's flailing threw its shoulder into Uranus and knocked the senshi away. Neptune was by her side instantly to help her up.

"No!" howled Nishimoto. "Get up! You can't be defeated! You can't! Get up!"

Any attempt to go to the armor suit was thwarted, though. Mars continued firing on him with her flame arrows. Though the deflector screen caught and harmlessly dissipated each arrow, Mars doggedly continued. Once between shots she allowed herself a furtive glance at Mercury.

"Come on, Ami!" Mars thought while she let fly with another arrow. "I know that look. Do whatever it is you're trying to do! I'm not sure how long I can keep this up!"

Just outside the lab, the armor suit swung its shoulders with a mighty effort and finally flung Tuxedo Mask away. Then, from its knees, the suit flexed and the Love Me Chain finally broke. Venus and Jupiter toppled backwards and landed in a heap. In moments, the armor suit was on its feet and headed back into the lab to help its master. Uranus and Neptune suddenly appeared in its path.

"Combine our attacks," Neptune suggested.

But Uranus hesitated. Neptune glanced at her and could see her mate was staring into the pleading blue eyes of Usagi, still trapped inside the armor. In a moment, Neptune came to a decision and stepped forward. She would attack alone. To spare Uranus, she would be the bad guy.

"All right," Uranus said through clenched teeth. "World Shaking!"

"Deep Submerge!"

The combined attacks struck the armor suit and halted it in its tracks. The metal monster strained to maintain its progress against the combined power of Uranus and Neptune. For tense moments all it could do was hold its ground. Then the attacks waned and the armor suit lunged forward. Before they could move, Uranus and Neptune were swept aside. The armor suit poked its head in through the gap in the wall. Inside, Usagi hoarsely pleaded with Mars and Mercury to run. The suit entered the lab and took three paces toward Nishimoto.

Then it stopped in place. Everyone looked at the suddenly inert armor suit with suspicion and confusion, wondering just what had happened.

"What?" gasped Nishimoto frantically. "What's happened? I don't have control anymore!"

"No, you don't," Mercury replied flatly, looking up from her computer. "I do. Tuxedo Mask, I'm opening the helmet latch. Please be ready to get Usagi out of there."

The helmet to the armor suit popped open. In seconds Tuxedo Mask was there lifting a sobbing Usagi out of the armor while Mars, Jupiter and Venus raced to her side.

"NO!" raged Nishimoto. "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! IT WAS PERFECT!"

"No device is perfect," Mercury told him. "Logically perfection is a statistical unlikelihood. It's simply a question of deducing the flaw. Obviously you were narrow-casting commands to the armor suit along a remote cybernetic link, just as it was narrow-casting energy to you. It simply became a question of finding the frequency of the cybernetic link, then hacking into the cybernetics and locking you out."

Nishimoto stared at her, stunned and furious.

"I'll grant you it was a complex puzzle to solve," Mercury offered. "It actually took me nine minutes."

Suddenly seized with the realization that flight would probably be a very good option at the moment, Dr. Nishimoto pivoted and lunged for the far exit. He got five steps before a hand locked around his collar and halted his flight.

"Going somewhere?" Sailor Uranus rumbled. He glanced first at the menacing glare of Uranus and then the unsympathetic face of Neptune, then sagged in frustration and defeat.

"Usagi? Are you hurt?" Mercury said, kneeling down and wedging herself between Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Mars.

"Just a little tired and shook up," Usagi squeaked. "Thank you, Ami."

"You'd have done the same for me," Mercury smiled.

"Yeah, but not in the same way," Usagi replied through her tears.

"Well if you're all right, then I've got to get back to Ryo," Mercury told her. She rose to leave, but someone caught her hand. She looked down and found Tuxedo Mask.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. She smiled, nodded, then hurried off.

"Hack into the thing's computer brain," nodded Jupiter, Venus standing beside her. "Only Mercury would have thought of that."

"Um hmm," Venus nodded.

"And in only nine minutes. Man, I feel so dumb next to her sometimes."

Venus started to reply, but Jupiter held up a finger.

"Say it and I'll break your arm, Blondie," Jupiter said. Venus kept quiet, but couldn't wipe the smirk from her face.

* * *

Ami burst into the Intensive Care Unit - - as quietly as possible - - and made a direct line for Ryo's cubicle. A small, paranoid voice in the back of her mind wondered if Ryo had lied about being there when she returned just to get her to do her duty as a senshi. Unbidden tears began to well up in her eyes at the thought of Ryo being gone. While the feelings for him weren't as strong as when they were both fourteen, feelings had been reborn in her by their reunion. Given time, she could see being married to this bright soul, of holding their daughter in her arms,of finding a cure for his condition and spending the rest of their days together in bliss. Had it already slipped through her fingers?

To her relief, Ryo was still laying there in the hospital bed. He still was pale and drawn, still incredibly frail. But his vital sign monitors continued to register his small spark of life. When he slowly opened his eyes and looked at her and smiled gamely, it was as if the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders. In a massive effort, he lifted his hand up. Ami moved in and clasped it.

"I was afraid you wouldn't be here," Ami admitted, almost chuckling with relief.

"I said I would," Ryo whispered. Ami noticed the new intravenous bag hooked up to him. It was an anti-biotic solution.

"We," Ami began, struggling to be encouraging, "we stopped the Hard Suit. We freed Usagi. Everything's all right now - - thanks to you."

"I guess this power isn't always a curse," Ryo sighed. The realization seemed to give the man some comfort.

"We'll get you over this infection," Ami told him. "We'll get you strong and healthy again, and then . . ."

It was the most subtle of clues - - the shift of eyes, the small tightening of the grip on her hand. But Ami spotted them, and a horrible deduction sprang from those clues and swept over her body.

"You foresaw it," her voice whispered, trembling with fright. "You foresaw your own death."

"Years ago," Ryo admitted, reconciled to the event. "It's unfolding just as I saw it."

"Ryo, why?" Ami sobbed. "Why didn't you come to me? I could have done something! I could have found a way to change things! And even if I couldn't - - you didn't have to live like this! I would have taken care of you!"

"Ami," he said and his eyes were as clear and as at peace as anyone Ami could recall, "you have a bright and shining future. No one deserves it more. But I was never part of that future. So I stayed away." He seemed to gather his strength. "It was hard to take at first - -  
knowing when you're going to die. It took me a while," and he paused for a moment, "but I finally reconciled myself with it. We all have to go." He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb lightly. "Some of us have more time and some of us don't."

Helpless tears streamed down Ami's face.

"Please don't cry for me, Ami. This just means - - the pain is finally over."

Ryo sagged a little. His eyes went glassy. What little strength was in his hand vanished.

"CODE BLUE!" Ami wailed as loudly as she could, even as the alarm went off at the nurse's station. Personnel barreled into the little cubicle with a cardiac crash cart while Ami pumped furiously on Ryo's fragile chest in external cardio-pulmonary massage. Other nurses began drawing drapes on the other cubicles and escorting visitors out. Hands joined Ami's, injecting drugs, strapping on an oxygen mask, preparing defibrillator panels. They worked on and on, desperately trying to pull their patient back from the brink, both for the sake of the patient and for the sake of one of their own, who was furiously working among them even as her sorrow poured down her face.

But in the end, it proved to be a life foretold.

Concluded in Chapter 12


	12. To Whom We Commend This Soul

LIVING A LIFE FORETOLD

Chapter 12: "To Whom We Commend This Soul"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Toshihiro entered the apartment softly. He listened for some sound of life.

"Mina?" he inquired. There was no response. She was probably still out saving the world. That's what Sailor Venus did.

And she was Sailor Venus. It was still hard to wrap his head around that concept. His beloved hyper, fun-loving, gorgeous, slightly addled, incurable slob, hopeless dreamer girlfriend was Sailor Venus, and before that the legendary Sailor V. She was a sailor senshi. He never knew, even though he'd been dating the woman for three years now and living with her for nearly a year.

And he'd wanted it to be more than just living together. But she'd always held him at arm's length before, enjoying his company but never able to commit to something long-lasting. He'd always feared it was because she didn't love him as much as he loved her. He thought it was perhaps because she was holding out, using him as a "second option" but hoping the mysterious Ace would sweep in and whisk her away. He'd never met the man but he'd pieced together what had happened to break up her first marriage and the feelings she still held for him. He'd always thought that was it.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe this was why she couldn't commit to him. Sagging on the sofa, Toshihiro turned on the television and pulled up the news.

" . . . footage of the dramatic confrontation between the Sailor Senshi and what has been described as a cybernetic Mobile Armored Suit run amok in Tokyo's manufacturing district."

His throat tightened. There she was, dodging blows from a metal monster nearly a meter taller than she was. She was fantastic - - and yet all Toshihiro could see in his mind was the monster possibly catching her and ripping her to pieces before his eyes. How many special effects action dramas had he thrilled to over the years? There was little surface difference between them and what he witnessed now, yet it was completely different. This was reality - - deadly reality.

A key turned in the lock. Toshihiro looked over and found Minako and Artemis framed by the door. Both parties looked at the other with surprise, as if each hadn't expected the other to be there.

"Oh," Minako mumbled awkwardly. "Hi, Toshi-chan."

"Hi," he said, giving her a faint smile. "Um, I was-was just watching you on the news."

"Did they get my good side?" she offered lamely.

A pall hung over the room.

"Look, Minako," Toshihiro ventured timidly, "I'm sorry for suspecting you. Sorry for what I said."

"Well, it's not like I didn't give you reason," Minako replied. She ambled in and sat on the sofa near him - - but not next to him - - and looked down. "I wanted to tell you. I should have told you."

"No, I understand. You super-heroes have to do stuff like that, don't you?"

Minako tried to suppress the snort of laughter.

"What?"

"I don't know," chuckled Minako. "I guess the thought of me being in the same category as Tetsuan Atom and 8-Man is funny." Her shoulders sagged. "It's not like it's some rule or something. I just - - didn't know how you'd take it." Her hand moved to her eye, like she was trying to conceal a tear. "I don't want to lose you, Toshi. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. Even better than this TV series. I was scared, I guess. I just didn't know how you'd react to me running around kicking the stuffing out of bad guys in a sailor tunic and a skirt up to my butt."

"Maybe you were right to worry," Toshihiro whispered. "I'm still not sure how to take this. There's a part of me who knows that you're doing something for the good of humanity. That's a lot more important than a guy who just directs TV sitcoms. But part of me worries that you might walk out that door some day - - and never come back."

With a tremendous look of sympathy, Minako leaned in and put her arms around Toshihiro. The couple remained that way silently for a few moments.

"I'll try, though," he told her. "I'll try to deal with it. Because driving you away would be almost as bad as losing you forever."

"Aww, Toshi," Minako sniffed. "You always know just what to say."

The pair cuddled up together on the sofa.

"Hey, Artemis," Minako said after a few minutes, "why don't you go see if you can spend the night with Luna."

Artemis gave her an acid look that Toshihiro managed to miss.

"There you go, treating that cat like he can understand you," Toshihiro chuckled.

"Yeah," Minako grimaced. "About that . . ."

"You know," Toshihiro said, rubbing her arm, "you really do look sexy in that sailor uniform."

"You think?" Minako leered.

Then her cell phone went off. The couple both emitted frustrated sighs.

"You're out to get me, world," she muttered. "Hello? What's up, Makoto? She did?" Minako listened for a few moments. "Oh no. Where is she? How's she doing? You want me to come down?" There was a pause. "OK. I'll stop by her place tomorrow and check on her." She closed the phone.

"Mina?" Toshihiro inquired, concerned about his love. "What's wrong? Is it more Sailor business?"

"No," Minako replied absently. "It's not that. Urawa died just now"

* * *

In the office of Dietman Shinjiro Hino, a conference was taking place. Prime Minister Arashi sat across the desk from the man he had pegged as his inter-party rival and a man to be watched carefully. And yet, Arashi found himself in the unique position of being in Hino's debt. It was the latest in a series of recent events that had sent the normally steady politician reeling. This meeting was, on the surface, to convey initial thanks as good form demanded. He was also there, though, to look Hino over more closely and try to decide what his true motives really were.

"I merely did what anyone who believes in the democratic execution of government would do," Hino replied. Arashi silently admired the man. Hino always had a gift for speaking. It was one of the things that made him a dangerous adversary. "It's true we've had our philosophical differences in the past, but those things are trivial in comparison to maintaining the very system of government we're all sworn to uphold."

"I'm glad to hear that, Hino-San," Arashi replied. "Given the involvement in this plot of Toguro-San, I can imaging you were - - conflicted."

"I freely admit my debt to Toguro-San," Hino told him. "He was a good friend and a better mentor. But you can only draw on debts of honor so far. Treason crosses the line and a person must choose between honor and country. I feel I made the right choice. We'll see how Tadano feels when he gets out of prison."

"Doesn't surprise me that he's going to fall on his sword for Toguro," Arashi scowled. "Some lessons in life are hard. Too bad Toguro isn't going to see the inside of a cell for this."

"Toguro-San is pretty well finished in the halls of government because of this," Hino reminded him. "Knowing him, that may be punishment enough."

"And then to find out that the bombing was staged as well. You're certain Toguro had nothing to do with that?"

"Yes. It's too clumsy. Besides, with the death of Ishii-San, his assistant was only too happy to outline the man's entire role in the incident. Kujawa certainly has a mess to clean up in more ways than one - - assuming the company even survives."

"Yes," Arashi nodded, then paused. Hino waited patiently. "Hino-San, I know we've had our differences, but this incident has demonstrated to me that - - given the urgency of a particular issue to the nation - - we can put aside our differences and work together. That's a very valuable thing to know."

"Thank you, Arashi-Sama," Hino nodded.

"Committee chairs are coming up next year," Arashi ventured. "Perhaps I can do something for you in that regard. Of course it will depend on how the fall elections go."

"I will not fail your faith should you choose to place it in me, Prime Minister," Hino said and Arashi wanted so to believe him.

The men got up, bowed and shook hands. Arashi departed while Hino sat back behind his desk. Only when his guest was gone did Hino allow himself a smile of triumph.

His assistant buzzed. "Hino-Sama, Toguro-San is on the phone for you again."

"I'm still out to Toguro-San," Hino replied cooly.

"May I ask for how long?"

"Permanently," Hino replied with a steely glare.

* * *

Through the funeral, Ami looked down at her hands. Her friends flanked her on either side. Usagi and Mamoru were on her right with Rei. Her mother was on her left, with Makoto, Sanjuro and little Akiko. Akiko lay on her mother's shoulder, sucking on a pacifier, oblivious to the solemn ceremony around her. Minako and Toshihiro were seated behind them. During the ceremony, Ami steadfastly refused to look up. Some of those with her noticed she consciously avoided looking at the coffin that held Ryo's body. Tears streamed down her face, but Ami remained in control. She didn't become hysterical - - no matter how much she wanted to. It was easier than she'd imagined it would be, given the flood of support she was receiving from her mother, from Usagi and from the others.

Near the coffin was Ryo's mother and father. In their sixties now, the graying couple seemed fragile as porcelain. There was sadness between them, but few tears. Still Usagi looked at them with infinite sadness, yearning to somehow ease their grief.

There were few other mourners. Ryo's life as a loner and a self-chosen outcast hadn't allowed him the luxury of making friendships. Off in a corner of the Confucian Temple was a woman in her mid-twenties and a little girl about five. Rei and Minako both had noticed them,  
but nobody recognized her. The only other mourner was quite conspicuous, despite his efforts otherwise. Unfortunately it was difficult to be anonymous when you were the Prime Minister of Japan and you traveled with government bodyguards. Only the demand of the temple monk and the detachment of two of his bodyguards to the door kept the press out.

When the service was done, Prime Minister Arashi got up and was first to meet with Ryo's parents. Though still grief-stricken, the elderly pair met Arashi and bowed with dignity to him. He handed them the traditional offering envelope. Then to the surprise of everyone, he knelt down on his knees before them and pressed his forehead to the floor in a traditional Japanese bow of supreme penance.

"Please accept condolences on my own behalf and on behalf of the entire Japanese government," he said. "And please forgive us for taking your son without cause."

For a moment, the Urawas were too stunned to talk. Finally Ryo's father found his voice.

"Thank you, Prime Minister," the old man said, choking back his emotions. "We are honored by your presence - - and grateful for your apology."

Arashi straightened up, then rolled off his knees to his feet. He nodded to Ryo's mother, then turned and left, his bodyguards following. Ami was next in line.

"I'm sorry this had to happen," she choked out. "We did everything we could to save him. But he was just too weak to go on."

"I'm sure you did," his mother offered. "My Ryo had a difficult life. Living was an ordeal for him in many ways. Though he's lost to us and we hurt because of that, I think he may be happier in the afterlife than he ever was on Earth."

Ami nodded and began to leave. But the elderly woman reached out and seized her hand. Surprised, the young doctor turned back to her.

"You're the Mizuno girl, aren't you? Ryo often spoke of you," she told Ami, "and very warmly. You were one of the few joys he had in his life. I think the gods actually took pity on him one day and let him meet you - - to relieve some of the misery in his life."

"Thank you," Ami whispered, emotion robbing her of speech.

When she turned away, Usagi and Makoto were there. The others hovered nearby.

"He knew," Ami told them, haunted and distant. "He knew before he entered the square that doing what he did would lead to his death. And he did it anyway, to save us all." The young doctor wiped her eyes. "He was the very definition of a hero."

"Yes he was," Rei whispered. "It's not fair that people like him die and people like Toguro live on."

"Ami?" whimpered Usagi, in tears herself. "I wish there was something I could do for you!"

"You're doing it, Usagi," Ami replied softly. The two women hugged. "I know death is the inevitable result of life. I know that intellectually. But it's never easy to confront. I wish he was still here!"

"I know," Makoto said, snaking her arm around Ami. "It's going to hurt. And you're going to miss him. If it ever gets to be too much, call me - - day or night. We'll get you through this."

Ami started to speak, but her throat seized up. Instead, she only smiled and nodded.

"Um," came a timid voice and they all turned to it. It was the young woman from the corner. She was a small woman with short black hair and unremarkable features. The child with her had straight black hair and hid timidly behind her skirt. "Forgive me for intruding. Did you know Urawa-San?"

"Yes," Ami whispered. "We were - - old friends. Did you know him?"

"Not very well. Not as well as I would have liked. I tried to help him. He seemed so thin and, well, tortured. But he wouldn't let me." The woman realized she was babbling. "I'm sorry. My name is Keiko Futuhara. This is my daughter, Ami."

"Really?" Ami replied, the hairs on the back of her neck raising. "My name is Ami, too. Ami Mizuno. How do you know Ryo?"

"Well," Keiko began, embarrassed, "about five years ago I was nearly hit by a truck. It was my own fault. I was, well, having trouble with my husband and I was preoccupied. I stepped out into the street and, well, this truck was coming. And then Urawa-San appeared. He pushed me back out of the way of the truck. I didn't see him, but he must have run from across the street, through traffic, just to save someone he didn't even know!"

She looked down and caressed the head of the shy five year old behind her.

"And my little girl, too. I was five and a half months along. That truck would have killed us both if not for him." She looked up at Ami with the most wondrous expression. "I-I was so grateful, I wanted to reward him somehow. And he just looked at me - - like he knew what I was going to say. He said I was going to have a beautiful little girl - - and she was going to grow up to be a brilliant surgeon. And he asked me if I would name her 'Ami'. Well it was the least I could do. Was he thinking of you?"

Overcome again, Ami just nodded.

"I didn't believe it for a minute when they said he'd tried to kill the Prime Minister," Keiko continued. "I knew he was innocent. It's so terrible what happened."

And out of the blue, Ami reached out and caught Keiko in a hug.

"Thank you," Ami whispered, squeezing the woman tight.

"For what?" Keiko asked.

"For giving me one more wonderful memory of him that I can cherish."

THE END


End file.
